The Sunday Mail
THE 11 000-strong milling industry workforce has given their employers a notice to strike beginning on Wednesday as they try to push for a 5 percent pay hike, raising the spectre of looming bread and stockfeed shortages.
United Food and Allied Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Ufawuz) general secretary Mr Adoniah Mutero told The Sunday Mail Business last week that they were pressing ahead with the indefinite industrial action to force the employer to review their salaries accordingly.
The restive workers include those from the country’s biggest millers such as National Foods Limited, Manyame Milling, Agrifoods, FeedMix (Private) Limited and Profeeds.
However, millers claim that they have enough buffer stocks to absorb the effects of any likely job action.
National Foods is understood to be supplying the bulk of flour to top bakers and any shocks in production is likely to create bread shortages.
“Bakers would be affected by the strike if they do not have adequate stocks of flour.
“The problem is that these guys (millers) are just arrogant; they come offering a 4,8 percent salary increment today and tomorrow they come with zero percent, so, we have realised that the only language they understand is withholding labour,” said Mr Mutero.
However, Grain Millers’ Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) chairman, Mr Tafadzwa Musarara, said if the strike goes ahead, it would not cause bread shortages “because we have adequate stocks that could last four months.”
He warned that employers will dismiss “anyone who goes on strike and replace them with contract workers”, claiming that the mulled strike would be illegal as due process has not been followed.
He said Ufawuz was supposed to have asked employees if they wanted to participate in the strike before sending a letter to GMAZ notifying them of the strike.
But Mr Mutero was adamant that proper procedures had been followed.
“That is their interpretation of the law, but I can tell you that what we did is actually consistent with the law.
“We are a law-abiding workforce and are alive to the fact that you should start by engaging in a vote on whether employees want to strike or not, but you can also start by giving a notice then conduct the vote and that is what we are doing.
“The voting process ends on Monday (tomorrow) and I am certain that the strike is going ahead as planned,” he said.
Mr Mutero said GMAZ is “alleging financial incapacity” for its refusal to hike employee salaries but is not keen to disclose its cash flows in tandem with the dictates of Section 76 of the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) which says when any party to the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement alleges financial incapacity as a ground for his inability to agree to any terms or conditions, or to any terms or conditions thereof, it shall be the duty of such party to make full disclosure of his financial position, duly supported by all relevant accounting papers and documents, to the other party.
In a letter dated August 18, 2014 addressed to GMAZ, Mr Mutero said employees will strike from September 10 until a 5 percent salary increment was awarded.
“Notice is hereby issued in terms of Section 104 (2) of the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01). In terms of this notice, the employer is advised that the employees intend to exercise their right to collective job action . . . from 10 September 2014 and will continue until the employer moves from its insulting position of a zero percent increment and makes full financial disclosure as required by law.
“Quite clearly, in terms of the law, the employer has a duty to make full disclosure to its employees on its financial status. Refusing to do so, by seeking to challenge the provision, shows that the employer has the ability to pay more but seeks to increase its profits and continue driving its workers into abject poverty.
“The only language that can be understood by such an employer is a strike,” said Mr Mutero.
Mr Musarara confirmed receipt of the letter from Mr Mutero on August 29.
He said the two parties have been locked in negotiations for the 2014 wage increment but had reached a stalemate.
“Traditionally and legally, when a deadlock arises, the parties go for arbitration. This is the stipulated part of dispute resolution. Regrettably, Ufawuz, an affiliate of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), has opted to abandon the arbitration (process) and resorted to militancy as a way to force the employer to give in to their demands of a 5 percent increment,” said Mr Musarara.
He said the “operating environment and the continuing biting liquidity crunch” has made it impossible for the employer to afford an increment.
“In fact, most employers have been battling to pay the current wages on time and it is foolhardy to expect them to pay more without retrenching some of the employees.
“GMAZ leadership is appalled by the attitude of labour this year, which is acting extorsively to force employer to pay more without first going for arbitration.
“However, should Ufawuz continue with its illegal and politically motivated strike, GMAZ would react swiftly and decisively,” said Mr Musarara.
He accused Ufawuz of “prosecuting a political agenda under the guise of striking for higher wages” by calling for job boycotts at a time when opposition parties are lobbying supporters to demonstrate for the two million jobs promised during elections.
GMAZ is believed to have agreed to award employees a 4,8 percent salary increment in the 2014 collective bargaining agreement but reneged citing Government’s directive to peg the maize producer price at US$390 per tonne.
Mr Mutero, whose union represents workers in a number of sectors including milling, meat, fish processing, breweries as well as distilling, baking, sweets and confectioneries, has accused employers of engaging in an unholy alliance in a bid to frustrate employees.
Recently, Mr Mutero made sensational claims that “employers are strategising and bribing arbitrators” so that no salary increments are put in place in the food sector. He claimed that in the soft drinks sector, they had agreed on a 10 percent salary hike but employers are now shifting goal posts.
