The Zimbabwe Construction and Allied Trades Workers Union says some contractors are using Treasury payment delays as a shield to delay salaries and stall wage negotiations, even when the problem does not apply to their own businesses.
According to NewsDay, ZCATWU says the issue is being exaggerated by some employers in the construction sector. The union argues that while delayed government payments may be affecting a handful of contractors, others are using that excuse more broadly to justify weak wage offers and unpaid salaries.
That distinction matters. A real Treasury delay is one thing. Using it as a blanket reason to underpay workers is another. The union says some firms that are not even contracted by government are still blaming state payment problems when negotiating with employees. That, in the union’s view, is not a cash flow issue so much as a bargaining tactic.
NewZimbabwe reported a similar dispute last year, with ZCATWU saying contractors were being dishonest about government payment delays and using the issue to avoid paying gazetted wages. That earlier reporting also pointed to the same industrial-relations problem: once delayed payments become a default excuse, workers can end up carrying the cost of disputes they did not create.
The union’s complaint is also about the wider effects on collective bargaining. If employers keep invoking Treasury arrears whenever wage talks begin, negotiations can become stuck even where the underlying business can afford better pay. ZCATWU says that is leaving workers in poverty conditions and undermining the normal wage-setting process in the sector.
There is a legal angle too. The union says some employers are abusing waiver provisions under Statutory Instrument 45 of 2013, which governs how waivers are supposed to work between employers and employees. In practice, the dispute is about whether the system is being used properly or stretched into a loophole for holding down wages.
For Zimbabwe’s construction workers, the story is less about one press statement than about the broader pressure points in the labour market: delayed public payments, fragile contractor cash flow, and workers trying to keep pace with living costs. If the claims are accurate, the result is not just slower salary negotiations. It is another reminder that payment delays can spread pain far beyond the public accounts table.
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