By Own Correspondent

THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has castigated the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for initiating a unilateral 43% ZWG devaluation in a development which has necessitated automatic salary cuts.

The backlash comes on the back of the decision by the RBZ to devalue the embattled ZWG currency which moved from a premium of ZWG13,80 to around ZWG25,28 in a move aimed at spurring acceptability while closing the gap between the official and parallel market rates.

While fiscal and monetary authorities believe the initiative is a step towards easing exchange rate volatility, the ZCTU acting secretary general, Kudakwashe Munengiwa said the 43% devaluation of the ZWG has left workers clutching in the air without room to breathe as half of their earnings have vanished.

"Such a critical issue like devaluation of the currency should have been subjected to intense dialogue at the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF), and it smacks of hypocrisy and is patronizing for RBZ and Government to unilaterally make such a huge decision at a time when social partners have been calling for consultations whenever such important decision are made," he said.

Munengiwa criticized the obtaining government profligacy and fiscal imprudence saying it has led to the debauching of the ZWG through chronic high inflation and called on authorities to own up rather than shy away from responsibility for the destruction of the local currency.

He said such levels of economic mismanagement are pushing the already impoverished workers to earn only in the meaningless ZWG which can no longer effectively function as a medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value and standard for deferred payment.

"The working people of Zimbabwe have lost substantial value in their earnings, pensions and insurance products and are essentially incapacitated to work as they earn in the fast depreciating ZWG. Following the devaluation of the ZWG, we call upon employers to pay a big part of wages and salaries in USD to cushion workers.

"In the same vein, we call upon the government to consider fixing a minimum wage in USD to protect the most vulnerable workers," he said.