Collective Bargaining Agreement Agricultural Industry Sugarcane Subsector

This registered collective bargaining agreement sets new minimum monthly wages for the sugarcane subsector of the agricultural industry, effective 1 July 2023. It was agreed between the employer parties — ZAEO, ZCFU, ZFU, CFU and agro employer representatives — and the unions GAPWUZ and HGAPWUZ, and it binds all organisations in the agricultural industry.

Wages are indexed in United States dollars and split into two parts: a US dollar component and a component converted to local currency. At grade A1 the new split is US$90 plus US$30 converted, a total of about US$120 a month, against a former US$75 plus US$25, about US$100. At grade C2, the top listed grade, the new split is US$206 plus US$68, about US$274, against a former US$172 plus US$57, about US$229. Across the ten grades the increase is roughly 20%.

The US dollar components for the intermediate grades are US$100 (A2), US$108 (A3), US$119 (B1), US$130 (B2), US$143 (B3), US$156 (B4), US$173 (B5) and US$187 (C1), each with a converted component of about a third of that figure.

The printed ZW$ column is only a snapshot. It converts the local currency component at the interbank rate on 20 July 2023 of USD1 : ZW$4 752,27140, giving ZW$142 568 at A1 and ZW$323 154 at C2. The operative rule is different: from 1 July 2023 the Zimbabwe dollar amount is worked out at the interbank rate prevailing on the 20th day of the month for which the wage is due, so it moves every month. Figures in the schedule are rounded to the nearest dollar.

Employers or employees may apply to the National Employment Council for full or partial exemption from, or review of, these wages, giving reasons, within 14 days of the date of agreement.

On timing, the agreement was signed at Harare on 20 July 2023 with effect from 1 July 2023, but only gazetted on 24 May 2024 — about ten months later, so it applies retrospectively. The wage table's column headings are dense and the two US dollar columns are easy to confuse, so the split should be checked against the Gazette before it is used to build a payslip.