Verdict Is Mixed On Impact Of Two-Day General Strike In Zimbabwe
With police deployed in force the strike had relatively little impact on downtown business districts, but some reports suggested many i
A two-day general strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions concluded Wednesday with reports indicating limited impact on businesses in Harare and the country's other main cities. But there were indications that many workers in the country's depressed industrial sector responded to the union call. Officials of the labor confederation said the stayaway was a success given what they described as widespread official intimidation of workers to compel job attendance. Labor Minister Nicholas Goche was unavailable for comment on the strike. He challenged those who concluded the strike had failed. "It depends on what you call a flop," Tarabuku said. "In a situation where people are intimidated, helicopters flying all over suburbs intimidating people to go to work, I don't think it was a flop." "It was a success," Tarabuku declared. Labor sources suspected state agents tried unsuccessfully to abduct Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe General Secretary Raymond Majongwe, who is also a member of the ZCTU supreme council. Majongwe said that he was saved by an alert bank security guard who whisked him away through a back door. In Mutare eight workers at Karina Textiles were arrested and labor sources said police severely beat the chairman of the firm's workers committee.