Nurses have announced that they are calling off a strike that was supposed to begin today (24 June).
This follows a successful meeting between Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), President Emmerson Mnangagwa, three cabinet ministers namely, Health and Child Care Minister Obadiah Moyo, Finance and Economic Development Mthuli Ncube and the acting Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Monica Mutsvangwa
ZINA had called for a strike after the expiry of a 14-day ultimatum they had given to the government. The strike would have seen nurses partially withdrawing their services due to what they called their diminished financial status.
The nurses were promised that they would receive pay hikes starting from 1 July. According to ZINA’s president Enock Dongo:
We feel that after consulting it will not be prudent to down tools given that we met a high powered delegation led by the President himself.
Downing tools after the Government has promised to review our salaries will be viewed as negotiating in bad faith.
Nurses at public health institutions across the country as well as the rest of the civil services have been hard hit by the erosion of their salaries as the value of the local currency continues to fall.
