Zimbabwean health workers call off their strike but threaten to resume if they don’t see better wages

June 25. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Health workers in Zimbabwe have suspended this Saturday five days of strike not without warning that they will resume their stoppages if the Government does not offer an improved salary proposal in two weeks.

Thousands of nurses and doctors from state hospitals have stood up to ask for a salary increase due to the collapse of the local currency and the growth of inflation.

“The leaders of the Health Associations have resolved to temporarily suspend industrial action and request health workers to resume service,” the union leaders said in a letter sent to the government’s Health Services Board on Friday, collected by the national newspaper ‘News Day’.

“This has been done to prevent further loss of life. The employees expect the employer to immediately submit a meaningful offer, addressing all the issues raised by the workers,” said one of the organizers, Dr. Tapiwanashe Kusotera.

Zimbabwean health workers went on strike on Monday after rejecting a 100% wage increase offer last week.

Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, plans to announce this Saturday new measures aimed at inflation and the rising cost of basic products, according to the state newspaper ‘Herald’, without giving details of the steps.

The latest economic measures announced by Mnangagwa on May 7 led to a ban on all lending by banks, blamed for causing the collapse of the local currency. Annual inflation in the southern African nation rose to 132% in May, topping triple digits for the first time in 10 months.