Zimbabwe airline pilots end 2-week strike, criticize NY trip by Mugabe and 80-member entourage
By APThursday, September 23, 2010
Zimbabwe airline pilots end 2-week strike
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s national airline says a crippling two-week strike by its 44 pilots has ended and regional and international flights will resume Friday.
Air Zimbabwe chairman Jonathan Kadzura didn’t give details of the deal that ended the strike. The airline fired the pilots last week but then resumed negotiations.
Senior pilots earned $2,600 a month, well below salaries of their regional counterparts, and the heavily indebted airline failed to pay most crew allowances for the past 20 months.
One airline plane was commandeered to fly President Robert Mugabe to the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week. U.S. officials confirmed they issued 80 visas for his entourage. Striking pilots had criticized the trip for its extravagance in the ailing economy.
