The Sunday Mail
Alfred Makwarimba
Compatriots, as we are celebrating this Worker’s Day, let us also celebrate some achievements and strides that have successfully been enshrined in the Constitution to protect our interests as workers at all times. Fellow compatriots, I congratulate you today as we commemorate together with our Government the International Labour Day commonly referred to as May Day.
Compatriots our May Day theme for this year is self-explanatory to what we are eagerly agitating for in line with the Government Economic Blue Print the ZimAsset vis-a-vis the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Policy.
Fellow workers we are saying rise up and demand your space in the economic play fields right across the whole enterprises spectrum of our industrial domain.
Colleagues and compatriots it is now high time workers accelerate the acquisition of Employee Share Ownership Dividends in each and every company that we dwell in whether private entity or public entity.
Compatriots, the mentality of what profit must I get must be discouraged in all our economic industrial endeavours.
It must be replaced by the mentality of what benefit or what loss will be obtained by the people who make up this great country Zimbabwe.
Compatriots never lose focus of the fact that we are the vanguard of our country’s economic background.
As ZFTU, we are committed to the philosophy of African Socialism and the principle of human equity at all times.
Our major concerns therefore compatriots must be to prevent and discourage outrightly any systems or practices that bring the growth of class super structures in our society like what is happening now in our midst.
Compatriots, there is no short cut or easy solutions towards reviving our industries, safeguarding our jobs let alone revamping our economy.
Government and business must make huge sacrifices and implement all the policies that have been enunciated towards economic revival and industrial revamping.
Compatriots, as we are celebrating this Worker’s Day, let us also celebrate some achievements and strides that have successfully been enshrined in the Constitution to protect our interests as workers at all times.
We thank Government for initiating the Constitution making process which led to the enshrinement of rights to collective bargaining, right to salaries and wages, right to strike among others as constitutional obligation.
As ZFTU, we do understand that economic revolutions do not just happen, but demand scientific and objective thought.
Economic development in any given country demands reasoned application of basic principles.
We will not from now on allow a handful of individual capitalists to put our nation into jeopardy economically nor allow them anymore to reduce efforts being sacrificed by thousands of our workers in safeguarding and preserving our economic power base.
We have stood up, let us take charge of our countries’ economic narratives.
Here in Zimbabwe as workers we continue to be threatened by formidable life threatening forces from both public and private capital which manifest themselves in such ways as :-
1. Unfair termination of employment on a massive scale.
2. Insecure employment continuity through the now widely adopted fixed term contracts which are terminable as and when the employer wishes.
3. Persecution of Trade Union activists despite it being recognised in the constitution.
4. Expensive and protracted dispute resolution system designed to shield the unfair employer from prosecution and to frustrate the aggrieved worker.
5. Inequitable remuneration structures and salary payment systems whereby the majority of our lower paid workforce is paid less than 30cents per hour while the management is paid 90dollars per hour.
6. Non-payment of wages even for work done and the goods services sold.
7. Unsafe and unhealthy working environments.
8. Corruption and mismanagement on a colossal scale in the most enterprises both public and private enterprises.
Fellow compatriots this is our time and life we not going to fail our Government let alone our country our vigilance is now needed most.
ZFTU would like to strongly urge the Government to urgently Democratise share ownership in all corporates on an agreed capitalisation threshold by prioritizing workers.
Government should finalise labour reform before September 2016 to ensure that the widespread unfair terminations are stopped, we also urge our Government to ensure that collective bargaining is accessed by all workers and strikes are not being criminalized at law.
Lastly, compatriots we appeal to the Government to institute a commission study of the economic impact caused by the skewed income distribution, remuneration structures in our companies both private and public where the management and shareholders are taking disproportionate shares from the little wealth currently created by the Zimbabwean workers.
It is time Government starts creating employment in the agriculture sector through robust scientific planning on land sizes, title tenure and production financing and opening new markets within our boarders and the rest of Africa.
I want to again thank our Minister for Public Service, Labour and Social Services for affording us an occasion to share and exchanging ideas for a conducive worker friendly environment.
Long live workers in Zimbabwe.
Long live the Informal Employment Sector in Zimbabwe.
Long live our Reverend and astute leader of our country Cde R.G. Mugabe.
Long live Z.F.T.U —Alfred Makwarimba is President of the other ZFTU
