UNI General Secretary praises UNI Zimbabwean affiliates’ resolve
UNI General Secretary praises UNI Zimbabwean affiliates’ resolve
UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings meets with the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, and UNI affiliates pushing for more membership despite political uncertainty
During a recent visit to Harare, Jennings met with UNI’s affiliates who are continuing to grow against a background of extreme economic hardship and political uncertainty.
Jennings said, “I’m impressed with our affiliates determination to increase membership in the most trying of circumstances and I thank them for their warm reception. This is a country where 90% are unemployed and 3 million have left the country, most people are living at subsistence level and where the shadow of Mugabe’s violence still looms large. Yet despite this terrible situation our affiliates are on target to add 10,000 new members this year. Unions are ready to contribute to Zimbabwe’s future and are seizing the opportunity. We look to the leadership of Prime Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader himself, to show the same resolve at this critical point in the country’s history.”
Jennings met with Prime Minister Tsvangirai on the day on which Zimbabwe's parliament presented a draft constitution three years in the making, opening the way for a referendum.
The draft must become law to allow elections to take place under a power-sharing arrangement between Mugabe's party and Prime Minister Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
After his meeting with the Prime Minister, Jennings said, “His greatest concern is the economic and social misery that has enveloped the people of this country. The Prime Minister allayed fears that the referendum would reignite the violence that so scarred the nation and the last elections. He said the referendum would be the chance for the people to decide and set the country on a new path.”
Jennings added, “Zimbabwe has registered 9% growth for the last two years but there is a desperate shortage of liquidity, investment and a failing infrastructure. However inflation is now estimated at 3% down from 200 million % just a few years ago but interest rates are at 30% choking investment. UNI Global Union is committed to working with our unions in Zimbabwe. We hope that the worst is behind them and with the crucial decisions ahead we pledge our commitment and support. There is hope and apprehension among our affiliates; hope of a new democratic settlement but fear that 89 year old Mugabe will unleash another tyranny of violence against his own citizens if he sees his grip on power coming to an end.”