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Cde Tapiwa Matangaidze

Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
NATIONAL Employment Councils (NECs) have been urged to broaden the scope of their operations to cater for the growing informal sector, which has long been side-lined.

The call comes at a time when Government is pushing for the formalisation of small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Over the years the sector has become a key employer for millions of entrepreneurs.

Officially opening the National Employment Councils 2017 symposium in Victoria Falls on Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Tapiwa Matangaidze, said all NECs were only dealing with workers in the formal sector yet a majority of citizens were now in the informal industry.

Vendors sell live chickens in this file photo

“As a result of challenges in the economy, a lot of people find themselves in the informal and unrecorded sector where there are decent work deficits.

However, we notice that all NECs deal with the formal sector,” he said.

“As Government we are working towards formalisation of the informal sector hence we urge NECs to complement our efforts. We call upon all employment councils to collect statistical information on employment figures, which are monitored, in addition to documenting thorough labour inspections and research on the state of industry.”

Deputy Minister Matangaidze said Government remains committed to striking a balance between labour market efficiency and fair labour standards. He said enforcement of collective bargaining agreements should not stifle development or growth of industry but rather have an “objective of balancing compliance and survival of industries”.

Matangaidze said it was cause for concern that only 30 percent of NECs have maintained wages agreed on in 2016 while others were still negotiating.

“We urgently need to capacitate our labour market institutions to tackle the issue of creating quality jobs, reduce social inequalities, reinforce action on youth unemployment and under employment, gender inequality and technological transformation,” he added.

As a result, Deputy Minister Matangaidze said, Government had pushed for a Labour Law amendment and that a Bill was now with the social partners for consideration while tripartite engagements continue. The two-day conference, which started on Wednesday, ended yesterday under the theme: “Enhancing the employment creation agenda”.

It was being attended by NECs councillors and general secretaries from a cross section of industry in the country. Other topics for discussion included corporate governance, roles of NECs and the need for individual groupings to respect freedom of association by members.—@ncubeleon