Bank Workers To Go On Strike

In a press statement on Friday, the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union (ZIBAWU) addressed to the banking public, the bank employees said they would embark on a collective job action anytime next week.

“This has been necessitated by Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and Bank Employers Association of Zimbabwe’s (BEAZ) unwillingness to meaningfully address employee welfare issues, especially salary reviews for the period July 2010 to June 2011,” read part of ZIBAWU statement.

“Our actions are not without reason as our members are still earning way below the poverty datum line against a background where most banks are posting huge profits. Banks are currently not paying interest on depositors’ funds yet they are charging exorbitant service fees which are not translating to meaningful benefits to bank employees.”

The employees alleged that banking executives were busy lining their pockets and moving with state-of-the-art vehicles at the expense of the banking public and bank employees.

ZIBAWU represents employees all the commercial and merchant banks operating in Zimbabwe, including Stanbic, Standard Chartered Bank, CBZ, NMB, Kingdom, Barclays and POSB.