Unions call for regional solidarity

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), protesting over the government's economic policies, told IRIN on Tuesday that the federation was seeking solidarity action from workers' organisations in neighbouring countries, particularly from South Africa's powerful trade unions. "We want COSATU (the South African union federation) to blockade our common borders next time we take industrial action," ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe told IRIN. Zimbabwe receives most of its imported goods via South Africa and a sustained blockade could have a significant impact on Zimbabwe's faltering economy. COSATU backed a similar two-day closure of border posts with Swaziland last year in support of the pro-democracy opposition. A COSATU delegation is due in Harare later this month, and is expected to call on President Robert Mugabe's government to respect workers' rights, and rescind a recent 70 percent fuel price hike. "We hope to be meeting COSATU when they come to Zimbabwe, we want moral support and we want them to put pressure on the ANC government to influence Mugabe for the better," Chibhebhe added. COSATU spokesman Patrick Craven told IRIN on Monday that the South African labour movement could consider "solidarity action" over Zimbabwe that might include "pickets and lobbies". He criticised the South African government's softly-softly policy towards Harare, and said the issues of democracy and human rights that prompted COSATU's Swaziland action were "very much the same" in Zimbabwe. The ZCTU is currently deciding on the way forward after its widely-observed two-day stayaway last week, called to force the government to scrap the fuel price increases. "We're currently discussing where to go from here, we're listening intently to what our members at branch level want," Chibhebhe said. Commenting on newspaper reports that the ZCTU was now willing to negotiate with the government, Chibhebhe said that the unions had always been prepared to talk and that they would be re-submitting demands that fuel prices be lowered immediately. "If we continue to get a negative response from the government, then yes, industrial action of different kinds will inevitably follow," he said. The stayaway forced virtually all businesses countrywide to shut down in spite of the fact that it had been banned by the government. The ZCTU estimated that more than 80 percent of workers heeded the call to stayaway. At the same time, its leadership faced pressure from its members to plan indefinite mass action after the government refused to back down, including demonstrations against Mugabe, the 'Financial Gazette' reported. But Chibhebhe stressed to IRIN that ZCTU mass action would continue to focus on the fuel price issue. "Our demands remain simple: Government must lower fuel prices, workers cannot survive right now, these are not political strikes, they're about workers feeding themselves and their families," he said.