By Faith Mabuto
GWERU City Council employees have for the second time in a month gone on strike after management failed to pay them their February salaries last Thursday.
The employees had suspended the two-week-long industrial action after management agreed to pay the outstanding amounts by the end of last week at a meeting which was called by the Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Jason Machaya.
Machaya’s meeting was meant to bring normalcy to the city whose service delivery had collapsed because of the strike.
Workers’ Committee spokesperson Cornelius Selipiwe said they were not happy with the fact that management had failed to honour its promise.
He said management had agreed with workers to pay them their February salaries by Thursday last week.
“We aren’t happy that management has failed to pay us our February salaries by last Thursday as agreed at the meeting.
“We had an agreement but due to unforeseen circumstances we haven’t been paid. We’re gathered here so we can pressure management to honour its promise,” said Selipiwe.
He said they were positive that by the end of the week, there would be a solution to their problem.
Management and councillors were by late yesterday locked in a marathon meeting aimed at finding a lasting solution to the matter.
Two weeks ago on a Friday, the council workers impounded a council minibus before they went to Fairmile Motel, government schools and the government complex which houses Minister Machaya’s offices, where they disconnected water supplies without management approval.
The following Tuesday they disconnected water supplies at Bata Shoe Company.
Workers attributed council’s failure to honour its salary obligations to its ineptitude in failing to collect revenue from owing clients. The Chronicle
