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Zimbabwe Government Workers to Protest Over Rejected Pay Demands

Zimbabwe Government Workers to Protest Over Rejected Pay Demands

(Bloomberg) --

Zimbabwean government workers will stage a demonstration on Nov 6. after the government rejected their pay demands amid rampant inflation in the southern African nation.

Members of the Apex Council, the sector’s main labor union, will march to parliament and the Finance Ministry to a hand over a petition demanding they be paid in U.S. dollars or at the official exchange rate in the local currency as spiraling inflation has eroded their earnings, the union said in an emailed statement Friday.

The decision to protest is due to the government’s failure to deal with the issue urgently enough, the Apex Council said.

Doctors working at state-run hospitals have been on strike for the past two months demanding a minimum monthly pay of Z$15,000 ($955), while civil servants want a minimum $7,050. The lowest pay scale is Z$1,023 a month

The government says it can’t afford the increases.

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone, Alastair Reed

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