By Kudakwashe Vhenge
Workers at Inscor Holdings Pvt Ltd, operators of the country’s largest bread and confectioneries as well as food outlets have threatened to stage protest from Monday 23 December at the company’s headquarters in the capital.
The demonstrations are in a bid to hand over a petition to the company’s Human Resources department over a wide range of complaints which includes poor remuneration, poor working condition, nepotism as well as ignorance by top management.
In a memo that is in the position of this publication, the workers raised much concern over poor salaries admits high cost of living that the countries is experiencing.
“We reiterate that we are failing to access basic needs that make us functional. Prices of basic goods and services have rocketed beyond the reach of ordinary employees. As you are no doubt aware, we are struggling to put food on the table. Unbearable transport, food and medical costs have even accentuated our plight. We are failing to send our own kids to school or even buy the products we sell for our families,” reads part of the memo.
Efforts to get a comment from the company’s human resources management were fruitless by the time of publishing as their mobile phone went unanswered.
However, information gathered by this publication is that frantic efforts by the company’s management to sit down with the company’s workers’ union failed to address the situation after the employees had been promised a ZLW150 increment which saw workers not denying the paltry offer.
The current basic salary of an ordinary worker at Inscor holdings stands at ZLW 550 which is almost equivalent to US$30.
“Our humble and honest request to our employer is simply a radical adjustment of salaries to the last USD salary paid at the current interbank rate that is pegged at 16.9 today,” reads the letter.
The downing of tools for the country’s leading food outlets company which operates Creamy Inn, Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Nandos among others at the height of the festive season is likely to pour a cold spell for out goers.
Discontented workers involved in the protests include potters, cashiers, complex cleaners and pizza makers.
