Zimbabwe civil servants planning to strike next week

Government employees in Zimbabwe will strike for two days next week to press for their salaries to be paid in dollars, after a collapse in the local currency.

Civil servants will stay away from work on July 27 and 28, the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions said today. The labour union is also demanding a halt to suspension of its members, it said.

The work stoppage will be a preparatory step toward “longer action in September, in the event that the employer does not meet our demand,” the union said.

The southern African nation’s government is struggling to deal with a currency crisis that’s resulted in the Zimbabwean dollar losing more than two-thirds of its value this year.

Annual inflation has surged to almost 192%, forcing the central bank to raise its key interest rate to 200% — the highest in the world.- Bloomberg

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