EDITORIAL COMMENT: Workers’ conditions of service must continue to improve

On Sunday, Zimbabwean workers marked Workers’ Day but the main event to commemorate it was held in Harare yesterday. The government was represented very strongly, with Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Prisca Mupfumira and a number of other ministers and legislators attending.

Workers attended in their numbers and their representatives, among them the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions, Apex Council, Harare Municipality Workers’ Union and the Zimbabwe Energy Workers’ Union articulated their grievances.

This was the first high level government representation there has been at Workers’ Day commemorations in the country in about 15 years. We are gratified by the profound statement the government made by such participation and hope that, going forward, the interaction between workers and their government will continue.

Labour Day this year came amid continuing challenges for the ordinary worker. Jobs are getting increasingly insecure because of a range of factors, among them the prevailing economic conditions that threaten firms’ existence and labour laws that workers generally believe are favourable to employers.

This was the first Workers’ Day to be commemorated after the mass dismissals that took place between July and August last year that left up to 25,000 people jobless. That was after the Supreme Court ruled in the Zuva Petroleum case allowing employers to dismiss workers on three months notice, minus benefits. That ruling caused untold emotional and physical suffering to the 25,000 workers, as they tried to come to grips with the fact that a mere letter had rendered them redundant, for no reason other than that the employer did not want them any longer.

However, we saw a response by the government when it fast-tracked amendments to the Labour Act. The law now makes it a little more difficult for the employer to dismiss an employee not just at the stroke of the pen as happened after the July 17 Supreme Court ruling.

The law now provides that any worker dismissed on notice is entitled to two weeks’ salary for every year served. This clause had a retrospective effect so the 25,000, at least some of them, were paid something, instead of them going home empty handed. The law also provides that an employer seeking to dismiss a worker on notice must prove that they are financially incapable to continue paying the worker/s salaries without threatening their viability.

Since the amendments were made on a fast track basis last year, there was little time for the government to consult everyone who should have contributed. Now there is an ongoing drive to enhance job security by further amending the Act.

In addition to changes to the law, the government has made available $5 million to Small Enterprises Development Corporation to provide loans to people who were sacked on notice last year.

This is an important move by the government because many of the workers were ill-prepared for the financial loss they incurred on being dismissed in quick-fire fashion, so the loans that they can secure from Sedco can help them to start some small businesses, earn an income and reorganise their lives.

Those still on jobs will benefit from the new legislative framework and moves by the government, through the National Social Security Authority, to launch a building society to make available more affordable and longer term mortgage finance for workers to borrow and build and buy houses

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the guest of honour at the Workers’ Day commemorations at Rufaro Stadium in Harare yesterday, said the government was also working on modalities of establishing a National Health Insurance Scheme to ensure universal health coverage for both the formal and informal sectors and other vulnerable groups.

“Turning to the housing challenges, the prevailing high interest rates on loans and mortgages make it virtually impossible for low income workers to own decent accommodation,” said VP Mnangagwa.

“In response, government will during the course of the year, launch a National Building Society, which will improve accessibility to affordable housing for low income workers. It’s therefore our hope as government, that this initiative will go a long way in easing accommodation woes, which have troubled many low income earners.”

We look forward to a better and more rewarding working environment for the worker. However, we recognise that much of the job insecurity, low and unpaid wages are caused not by gaps in the Labour Act, but by the hostile economic environment resulting from the impact of the illegal western sanctions.

The punitive measures will continue affecting companies’ viability, making it difficult for them to access certain markets for their products and services and critical funding for retooling and working capital.

While locally, the government is doing all it can to improve the conditions of service for employees, we expect the West to complement these efforts by lifting their ruinous sanctions that are destroying industry, jobs and job security.

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