Workers in the diamond mining industry are demanding their salaries in US dollars, arguing that the sector earns foreign currency.
Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers’ Union (ZDAMWU) general-secretary Justice Chinhema asserted that workers should be paid US$790 per month.
In an interview with Newsday Business, Chinhema said:
If you go around Zimbabwe, the mining industry is one of the lowest paying industries despite us producing the foreign currency which government is crying for.
This 80% increase is nothing to us. The mining industry must pay equivalent to what the employers are retaining from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe after selling the gold to Fidelity (Printers and Refiners).
So, we are saying the minimum wage of the mining industry must be commensurate to the mineral that we are mining.
It must also reflect, if the employer is retaining 80% in US$, that should also be the salary and the minimum wage must be in line with the poverty datum line, which is US$790 (and) not ZWL$486.
Chinhema added that the working conditions in the sector are deplorable, akin to modern day slavery.