The Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Mineral Workers Union (ZDAMWU) is pushing for its members to be paid in US dollars as inflation is eating into their salaries.
Despite being the country's main foreign exchange earner, miners live in poverty due to the decline in the value of local currency wages.
Most miners receive 60% of their wages in Zimbabwean dollars (RTGS Dollar) and 40% in US dollars.
ZDAMWU Secretary General Justice Chinhema called on employees to resolve their plight as soon as possible.
"With the exchange rate spiraling out of control against the Dollar, the RTGS Dollar component is becoming worthless and workers' wages are losing purchasing power," he said. We are now demanding a review of wages across the industry, up to $600, paid 100%, excluding worthless RTGS."
"The mining communities are in rural areas where you can't find big supermarkets that normally accept RTGS using the black market rate."
Prices in Zimbabwe have soared in the past few weeks and the Zimbabwean dollar has fallen against the US dollar to 5900RTGS on the official market. This has led to growing calls for pay reviews in both the public and private sectors, with some employees turning them down on the grounds that they are not up to the job.
"If the mine owners choose to ignore us, we will see an uprising because the workers are agitated," he said. We will join other workers in a national strike, currently suggested by other mindfulness movements. The lives of the workers are at stake. The government must act now before things get out of hand."
"We would also like to thank some mines for listening to us and raising wages, some at $100, which is still lower than we expected." The prices of basic goods and other services in dollars are rising and we are concerned about that."
