Zimbabwe's main unions vowed Wednesday to fiercely resist a rumoured plan to cut workers' salaries by 50 per cent as police crack down on business owners trying to avoid a government order to sell goods at half price, according to dpa. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said it had wind of a proposal that would allegedly see workers subjected to a 50-per cent salary slash in line with the half-price cuts being enforced by President Robert Mugabe's government. "It would be unfair for government and its agencies to want to cut salaries by half when workers are struggling to survive," said Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU secretary general, warning of massive resistance to the "heartless strategy." Mugabe and his officials have accused the unions of colluding with the West and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a bid to unseat the 83-year-old president, who has been in power since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. It was not possible to immediately confirm the reports of a mooted wage cut, which comes a week after Mugabe's police and price inspectors launched a massive blitz on traders, ordering them to halve their prices. Hyperinflation of well over 4,500 per cent has sent prices shooting up in recent months. Business owners have defended themselves from the government's accusations of profiteering, saying the prices reflect their increased costs. Over 1,500 business executives and traders, including a number of South Africans, have been arrested over the past week for violating the new price-control orders. Most have been released after being charged and fined but some remain in custody. Although the announcement of the price slash prompted a gleeful grab for bargains among hard-up consumers, many are feeling the pinch now as basics such as bread and fuel become increasingly difficult to come by. Faced with selling at a loss, some traders have shut shop while the police accuse others of moving supplies to rural areas for "safekeeping." A police spokesman told the ZimOnline website on Wednesday that roadblocks had been set up to halt the movement of basic commodities between urban and rural areas. Meat, in particularly, has been in short supply since butchers were ordered to sell meat at about a quarter of the market price. Industry Minister Obert Mpofu announced in the state-controlled Herald newspaper that the licences of all private abattoirs had been revoked with immediate effect and that only the state-run Cold Storage Company would be allowed to slaughter stock from now on. Authorities have vowed to carry on with the price squeeze, with deputy minister of health Edwin Muguti warning that price inspectors would soon be visiting private pharmacies. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says the campaign is an election gimmick designed to win the hearts and minds of struggling Zimbabwean voters ahead of next year's parliamentary and presidential polls.
