Business-labor relations are heating up in Zimbabwe with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions warning that it will call a strike if workers do not receive a minimum of US$454 a month - but businesses say they are still struggling and cannot afford that level of pay.

Economist-consultant Luxon Zembe told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that if companies raise wages to the level demanded by the union they will go out of business as the country is still broke despite some economic gains.

Economy in Transition Program Associate Richard Kamidza of the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe concurred, saying it is still too early to make such demands with the government in place for just five months and facing a global recession.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...