Collective Bargaining Agreement Food and Allied Industries (Meat, Fish, Poultry, Abattoir and Meat Processing Sub-sector)

This publishes an agreement of the National Employment Council for the Food and Allied Industries, meat, fish, poultry, abattoir and meat processing sub-sector, amending the agreement in S.I. 156 of 2018. The employers' association and the workers' union met on 18 August 2023 and the agreement was signed at Harare on 17 March 2023.

The headline shift is the move from Zimbabwe dollar to US dollar wages. For the March to May 2023 period the schedule is in Zimbabwe dollars, with a Grade A1 gross of ZWL300 000 in March, ZWL400 000 in April and ZWL726 894 in May, rising to ZWL1 011 630 at Grade C4 in May.

From June 2023 the table is in US dollars: gross US$290 at Grade A1, made up of a US$250 basic plus US$20 housing and US$20 transport, rising through the grades to US$366 gross at Grade C4 (US$326 basic plus the same allowances). Payment is split 55% in US dollars and 45% in Zimbabwe dollars, the ZWL portion converted at an interbank rate stated in the table as 6926,5764.

Basic wages for April and May 2023 were increased by 14,738%, 18,051% and 34,670% off the December 2022 base for January, February and March 2023 respectively. Transport allowance was pegged at ZWL25 000 for January and February 2023 and ZWL30 000 for March; housing allowance at ZWL29 000 for January and February and ZWL35 000 for March. Night shift allowance is US$2, paid in ZWL at the RBZ auction rate of the Tuesday falling between the 15th and 21st of each month, with effect from 1 March 2023, and does not apply to employees on maternity or sick leave.

On allowances the detail matters. Transport allowance is only paid to an employee who physically reported for duty. Employers who provide housing within the environs of the company's operations are exempt from paying it, as are employers of employees living within a two kilometre radius. Where an employee works outside the normal 22 working days — weekends and public holidays — the employer must pay transport costs for those days.

Subsistence allowance is pegged at US$35 payable in ZWL at the prevailing interbank rate on the day of payment, effective 1 January 2023, broken down as US$20 accommodation, US$3 breakfast, US$5 lunch, US$5 dinner and US$2 incidentals. All other conditions of service remain unchanged.

One caveat on dates: the agreement is introduced as covering "April to June 2023" but the explanatory bullets describe increases for January, February and March 2023, and the signature date of 17 March 2023 precedes the 18 August 2023 meeting it records. Employers reconstructing arrears should work from the tables and the stated month headings rather than the narrative.