Harare — The Zimbabwe Construction and Allied Trades Workers' Union said on Wednesday that it had secured agreement of employers to increase minimum wages for workers in the industry to $9 billion per month with effect from June 1.

ZCATWU deputy general secretary Mr Muchapiwa Mazarura said the two parties had concluded a collective bargaining agreement to increase wages of all categories of workers in the construction industry by 260 percent.

"The increase has been made after the realisation that the current minimum wage is way below the poverty datum line and prices of basic commodities continue to rise on a daily basis with a loaf of bread costing $170 million," Mr Mazarura said. Mr Mazarura said low wages were affecting performance of workers as they were finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet in the hyperinflationary environment. He said the minimum wage that stood at $2,5 billion prior to revision had been eroded by the ever rising transport and housing costs.

Mr Mazarura urged employers to follow stipulated wages and those applying for an interim exemption of the new wages to bring the application with the consensus of workers. The construction industry continues to face operational problems as a result of mass exodus by its workers to neighbouring countries like Botswana and particularly South Africa, whose hosting of the 2010 World Cup has led to a boom in the construction industry.

He called on the government to initiate programmes to assist in arresting brain drain .