Zimbabwe government workers strike for higher pay

Doctors strike

Zimbabwe state workers went on strike on Friday to press for a five-fold wage hike, a move that could cripple public services and hamper the struggle by the fragile power-sharing government to fix the economy.

State employees, who earn between $122 and $206 per month, last month gave the government of Robert Mugabe and arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai a two-week ultimatum to raise salaries to an average $630 per month.

Major unions representing teachers, health workers, state college and university lecturers as well as office workers, held a rally of more than 2,000 in central Harare, saying they would not return to work until the government addressed their demands.

"The people are agitated. They have lost their patience," said Cecilia Alexander, head of the Public Service Association, a union of government office workers.

"We have no choice. Our members have declared that they are not going to report for work. They will only return to work when the government offers them something serious."

The unity government formed a year ago to end a protracted political crisis says it needs at least $10 billion to reverse a decade of economic decline, but is struggling to attract external cash.

Tendai Chikowore, who chairs the Apex Council, an umbrella body for all state workers, said unions had rejected a government offer of $15 more a month.

"They simply restated an offer which we had rejected before, so we will advise them that this is the position taken by the workers," Chikowore told reporters.

There was no immediate government response.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said civil service pay takes up at least 60 percent of revenues, and limited resources make it difficult for the state to increase wages significantly.

A strike by teachers and health professionals, who make up the bulk of the civil service, would hurt efforts to revive key sectors that collapsed at the height of Zimbabwe's crisis in 2008 when public schools and hospitals ground to a halt.

The unity government has managed to stabilise the economy, mainly by dumping a local currency rendered worthless by hyperinflation and allowing the use of foreign currency.

The economy grew for the first time in a decade in 2009 -- by a better-than-expected 4.7 percent -- but analysts say it needs significant levels of foreign investment and Western aid.

However, investors and donors are holding out for signs that the unity government will hold together and whether Mugabe is ready genuinely to share power with Tsvangirai and institute broad political and economic reforms.

The coalition has been rocked by frequent wrangles over the pace of reforms, senior government appointments such as that of central bank governor and Attorney-General, as well as sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle.