The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it will press ahead with its plans to go onto the streets April 11th to protest plummeting standards of living as companies continue to shutdown.
The workers are also up against statements by the government to freeze salary increments this year, among other issues.
The ZCTU said it will not be deterred by what it called state propaganda targeting the union ahead of the protest. War veterans have also been threatening the union over the protest.
In a statement Monday, the labour body said on “Monday 30 March 2015 and Tuesday 31st March, the Herald published two opinion pieces headlined ‘ZCTU is paid for demonstrations’ and ‘ZCTU, MDC-T are at the pinnacle of insanity’ which pour vitriol on the ZCTU by making unsubstantiated claims.
“While the two writers are entitled to their opinions, the ZCTU would like to clarify the following: The ZCTU demonstration is purely a labour matter and the MDC-T has nothing to do with it and allegations that there is a tug of war between the two is absolute nonsense and meant to create a fallacy that the MDC-T is part of the demo.”
ZCTU secretary general Japhet Moyo said they were not aware of any T-shirts that were being printed by the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute in support of the demonstration and such as claimed in the Herald, adding such claim must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
Moyo also distanced the International labour Organisation (ILO) from the planned demonstrations saying it is all day-dreaming that it is funding it. He added that the ILO is a tripartite body involving the government, labour and business and they would not agree to undertake such things.
Moyo said it was malicious on the part of the writers to drag the name of the former ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibebe into the impending demo.
Chibebe has since left the ZCTU.
The ZCTU wants to demonstrate over the remarks by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya, on the freezing of wages and salaries and the resuscitation of the Tripartite Negotiation Forum, among other things.
The demonstrations will take place on the 11th of April 2015 from 10:00am to 12:00pm in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru , Mutare, Masvingo and Chinhoyi where the umbrella body will deliver petitions.
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Interview With Japhet Moyo