The Arbitration Court has ordered the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to hike its workers’ salaries by 1000% and pay its least-paid employee US$350 or the equivalent in local currency.
GMB workers were earning US$30 or $29 000 before the court ruling.
According to a court ruling dated March 16, arbitrator Caleb Mucheche ruled in favour of the GMB employees. Mucheche ruled:
The respondent (GMB) did not produce financial evidence of being a loss-making entity. Consequently, in the final analysis, therefore, I am of the view that it is just and equitable that the claimant be awarded a wage increment of US$350 for the period July to December 2022 payable at interbank rate.
Silo Food Industries Worker’s Union (SFIWU) president David Chigogo said they would continue pushing until the lowest worker takes home US$700 per month. NewsDay quotes Chigogo as saying:
It’s a victory for the employees. We last got an increment in April 2022. However, we are carrying on with the fight because we want the least paid to take a basic salary of US$700. Now that we are done with last year’s business, our focus is now on 2023 first quarter negotiations.
In November last year, the parastatal’s workers threatened to down tools over poor salaries which they said has been stagnant since April 2022. This was happening when the Zimbabwe dollar was losing value against other currencies.
They also complained that they were working overtime including during weekends when they were distributing farming inputs under Pfumvudza and the Presidential Input Scheme.