Collective Bargaining Agreement Welfare and Educational Insitutions

This publishes the collective bargaining agreement for the Welfare and Educational Institutions sector, replacing the agreement in S.I. 268 of 2021. It runs from 1 February 2022 to 31 December 2023 and was signed at Harare on 28 March 2023.

The schedule sets minimum wages across six sector bands, from the best-paid (NGOs, Independent A trust schools) down through mission boarding schools, private schools and mission hospitals; private colleges, home schools and religious presbyteries; trust and rural ECDs and mission day schools; and the lower urban and rural ECD, welfare and tertiary bands. For 1 February 2023 to 31 December 2023 the NGO band runs from US$445,20 at Grade A1 to US$1 397,23 at Grade C5, while the lowest band runs from US$224,64 to US$403,42 over the same grades. The 2022 schedule is slightly lower — US$424,00 to US$1 330,69 in the NGO band.

The percentage increases differ sharply by band: for 2022, 6% for NGOs but 15% for the private schools and mission hospitals band, 12%, 10%, 9% and 8% for the others; for 2023, 5%, 11%, 9%, 6%, 5% and 4%. Housing allowance is US$100,00 and transport allowance US$65,00 across every band and both years.

Wages are denominated in US dollars. NGOs must continue paying salaries in US dollars, while the other sectors may pay in US dollars or the ZWL equivalent in line with S.I. 185 of 2020. These are minimums — workplace top-up negotiations are allowed, more favourable existing wages and benefits cannot be withdrawn, and where a worker was paid above the minimum before 1 February 2022 the cash differential must be maintained.

Deductions are substantial. NEC levies are 2% from the employee's actual wage plus 2% from the employer, a total of 4%. Trade union dues are a further 4% of each member's actual wage. Both must be paid by the 7th of the following month, in foreign currency to the extent wages are paid in foreign currency, and ZWL deductions paid late are converted at the prevailing bank rate on the date of remittance.

Benefits are set out in detail. Long service earns an extra 1% of the prescribed monthly wage for each completed year, for employees with at least twelve months' continuous service. Subsistence allowances for 2023 are US$10 each for breakfast, lunch, dinner and out of pocket in all sectors (in 2022 the NGO sector was US$5 each while other sectors were US$10). Education allowances at mission schools and hospitals are 75% of tuition and boarding for two children, paid directly to the school on production of invoices, rising to 100% where the children attend a local authority school whose total fees are below that 75%; ECD centres and creches get 100% for two children; independent institutions and PVO special schools get 75% of local authority or government school fees for up to three biological children. Night shift is 1% of the monthly salary rate per night worked. On a funeral, the employer pays any shortfall on the cost of a coffin where the employee has a policy, or 50% of the coffin where there is none. Employees sleeping away from home must be given real overnight accommodation — the agreement states expressly that sleeping in a motor vehicle or bus does not count.

The agreement carries an unusually detailed set of definitions distinguishing trust schools, private schools, private colleges, home schools by enrolment above and below 50 students, boarding and day schools, urban and rural ECDs, and four welfare institution categories — which is what determines which wage column an employer falls into. Employers should identify their category first, since the gap between the top and bottom bands is roughly double at every grade.