Collective Bargaining Agreement The Medical and Allied Industry

This registered collective bargaining agreement amends section 10 (grading, wages and allowances) of the Medical and Allied Industry agreement published in S.I. 93 of 2019.

The structural change is a move to sector-based bargaining. The industry is split into three negotiating groups. Group 1 is hospitals, medical aid societies and health funders, pharmaceutical wholesalers and laboratories. Group 2 is imaging, retail pharmacies, specialists, ambulances and optometry. Group 3 is primary care physicians, rehabilitation, clinics, counsellors, psychologists and dentists. The agreement also defines the line between a clinic and a hospital: a hospital has 10 or more beds, a clinic fewer than 10.

On wages, the parties agreed to extend the wage schedule that applied in the third and fourth quarters of 2022 to cover the first quarter of 2023 — so the figures are held flat, not increased. Group 1 minimums run from US$291,58 at grade A1 to US$573,57 at C3. Group 2 runs from US$300,00 at A1 to US$590,14 at C3. Group 3 is the lowest, from US$287,50 at A1 to US$565,56 at C3.

Wages stay indexed in US dollars, but how they are paid differs by group. In Group 1 a portion must be paid in hard currency, with the quantum agreed institution by institution and the agreement registered with the Council; the remainder is paid in Zimbabwe dollars at the RBZ auction rate for the week preceding the week of payment. In Groups 2 and 3 payment may be in US dollars or Zimbabwe dollars at the same auction rate, and employers with the capacity to pay in US dollars are requested to do so and register the arrangement with the NEC.

Three other terms matter. Where transport is not provided, the employer must pay a daily transport allowance of 100% of the actual fares the employee needs to get to and from work within the town or city. A COVID-19 risk allowance is payable to all employees reporting for duty during the pandemic, pro-rated on days actually worked, with the rate agreed in-house on affordability. NEC dues stay at 3% from the employer and 2% from the employee, remitted proportionally in the currency of payment.

No employee on a higher wage or better benefits at the date of commencement may be reduced because of this agreement, and institutions spanning more than one group are placed in the sector where their primary business is registered. The agreement was signed at Harare on 4 May 2023 but gazetted on 3 May 2024, a year later; no commencement date is stated. Note that a fuller replacement agreement for this industry was later published as S.I. 184 of 2024, which repeals S.I. 93 of 2019 outright.