The Health Apex Council (HAC) has given the government a 14 day ultimatum to solve salary grievances in the health sector following failed bi-partite negotiations.
The HAC gave the ultimatum after the government failed to solve the demands that have been crippling the health sector since October 2018.
“Health Apex position demand to have salaries with purchasing power as the case was before the October 2018 monetary policy”, read part of the press statement.
The health practitioners argue that the government has stripped them off their buying power by paying peanuts as salaries.
“Health worker salaries have lost their purchasing power in this difficult economy,” lamented the Secretary General for General Hospitals Doctors Association Mthabisi Bhebhe
He maintained that if the government fails to give in to their health practitioners would shut down the health industry as soon as the ultimatum lapses.
‘Should the government fail to act positively to our plight, we risk the disruption of industrial harmony” reiterated Bhebhe.
Nurses and Doctors have been demanding salaries in United States dollar and improved working conditions since October last year.
They claim United States dollar salary will to retain their buying power which they say has been scrapped off by the RTGS dollar which has been losing value every day.
Prices for basic commodities continue to increase since October last year leaving majority of workers unable to afford basic living standards.
Doctors accuse government of not fulfilling any of the agreement that were made and say the government is not negotiating in good faith.
The ultimatum has been endorsed by various health practitioners associations including the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), The Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (GHDA), Zimbabwe Environmental Health Practitioners Association (ZEHPA) and Government Therapists Association (GTA)
In various press statements the associations showed solidarity with the HAC threatening to down their tools if their government does not adhere to the 14 day ultimatum.