Labour Union cries for justice

01 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views
Labour Union cries for justice

The Sunday Mail

Japhet Moyo
Zimbabwe has made commitments to the International Labour Organisati0n concerning alignment of some provisions of the Labour Act to ratified conventions, particularly the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association. As Zimbabweans join the rest of the globe in commemorating Workers’ Day today, the plight of employees in the country remains precarious as the obtaining economic situation continues to affect most companies and organisations.

Most workers are finding it difficult to survive on their meagre wages, with many of them taking home less than US$300 per month against a Poverty Datum Line of over US$500.

In a number of cases, workers have to supplement income through buying and selling.
Struggling companies are cutting working hours, unilaterally reducing wages and altering service conditions, all in the name of cutting costs.
Cases abound of workers who have not been paid on time or wages have been staggered.

In difficult times, health and safety become peripheral; that is why some employees are working under hazardous conditions.
Worse still, some companies are failing to remit National Social Security Authority contributions, pensions and medical aid payments.
What this means is that when a worker gets injured or ill, he/she will fail to access medical assistance.

There are cases where retirees failed to access pensions because their companies were not forwarding pensions.
The economic situation has also affected the operations of trade unions as some employers also fail to submit union dues. Most unions in Zimbabwe are not receiving their dues, and this is threatening their existence.

Without strong unions, workers become vulnerable to exploitation by employers who seek maximum profits.
The Supreme Court ruling of 17 July 2015 also worsened the plight of workers.

The court ruled in the case of Don Nyamande and Kingstone Donga v Zuva Petroleum Pvt Ltd that employers have a common legal right to terminate an employment contract by giving three months’ notice and that the employer does not need to give a reason for terminating that contract.
It further gave the employer the right not pay any compensation for loss of employment.

The ruling devastated industry and it is now doubtful whether the country’s labour force in the private sector could pass 600 000.
Although Government moved in to try to ameliorate the situation via Labour Act Amendment No. 5 to retrospectively compensate fired workers, the damage had already been done.

Very few retrenchees were compensated.
In any case, employers are challenging the retrospective aspect of the law, and the compensation is peanuts.
Two weeks’ pay or wages for each year served is little considering that the country’s average salary is US$246 per month and two weeks’ pay is just US$123 for each year served.

Lately, the State has made its intention to usurp the role of trade unions clear: It feels that unions have been “enlightening” its adversaries.
That thinking is not only misguided, but a danger to the civil liberties of the ordinary working class.

Trade unions are also unhappy that the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Ministry has power to interfere with the operations of employment councils, trade unions and employers’ organisations.

Zimbabwe has made commitments to the International Labour Organisation concerning alignment of some provisions of the Labour Act to ratified conventions, particularly the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association.
The Act ignores that and aligning collective job action to the Constitution remains outstanding.

The current effort to re-look at the Labour Act is welcome as long as social partners stick to the founding principles that were agreed before the enactment of Labour Act Amendment No.5
Now there is talk of Labour Market Flexibility and the target is the Labour Act.

There is a belief in Government circles and Business that Labour are in favour of workers and hinder economic growth by protecting workers.
Some are calling for productivity-linked wages.
From Labour’s perspective, linking wages to productivity is totally wrong.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has always argued that Labour is not a commodity, and making it solely a factor of production is a misnomer.
There are a lot of variables in the production chain like raw materials, machinery and technology that determine costs and sacrificing labour is unfair.

Labour flexibility creates what is termed “precarious work” and is associated with:
(a) poor or low wages for the labourers
(b) poor protection from termination of employment
(c) Lack of access to social protection and benefits usually associated with full-time standard employment
(d) Lack of or limited access of workers to exercise their rights at work
(e) Destroying collective bargaining and its institutions.
It is a modern or 21st form of slavery.

It takes people back to the master-and-servant era as the employer determines the pace at the expense of a weak employee who compromises rights to get an indecent job.

Mr Japhet Moyo is the Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

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