ZCTU+stayaway+report-back,+5+April+2007

ZCTU 5 April 2007
=Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Stay Away=

Dear Colleagues,

the ZCTU organized two-day stay away came to an end yesterday with most workers having heeded the call.

Reports received so far from the rest of the country show that the stay away was in the region of 65-70 percent success. The ZCTU does not judge the success or failure on the number of people walking about in town but on the numbers that did not turn up for work in industries.

We have it on good authority that government forced business people to open their companies or face unspecified action. Even the Minister of Industry and Trade, Obert Mpofu, in today's Herald newspaper threatens those businesses that closed for the stay away. He says government is going to deal with these for supporting the ZCTU stay away.

Reports we have just recieved say an unspecified number of members of Chegutu Canners workers' committee have been picked up by the police from Peace and Order for participating in the stay away. We are currently trying to establish where these activists have been taken to.

Six workers were also severely beaten in the Eastern town of Mutare for participating in the stay away. They are also workers' committee members. The general manager of this company called Karina Textiles, was summoned by the police and ordered to bring an address book for all his workers. He was forced to go to all the employees' homes summoning the workers back to work when they were on stay away.

There are incidents where ZCTU activists were summoned by the police but overally none were detained, they were just harassed, questioned and released.

Thank you for supporting the ZCTU action.

Information Officer Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions P.O Box 3549 Harare, Zimbabwe**
 * Khumbulani Ndlovu

Fax 263-4- 728484 E-mail Website**
 * Telephone 263-4-794702/794742

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