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Workers follow proceedings during Workers Day commemorations at White City Stadium in Bulawayo in May

Cuthbert Mavheko
The introduction of the multi-currency regime by Finance Minister Cde Chinamasa in 2009 brought some relief and economic stability to the country. Workers began to envisage a brighter future, where they would earn decent remuneration and thus be able to have a better quality of life. But alas, this has now proved to be just a mere pipe dream. Today the majority of workers in the country, especially those in industry, are wallowing in abject poverty due to poor remuneration.

Zimbabwe’s Poverty Datum Line (PDL) currently stands at $562 a month for a family of six. Shockingly, the wages and salaries of most workers in industry are far, far below this.

According to the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe, minimum wages for the different sectors of the economy, which were agreed in the 2014 wage/salary negotiations, range between $170 and $330.The minimum wage for the textile industry is $200 and that for the sugar milling sector is $170. Other sectors include plastic manufacturing – $198; ceramic – $200; lumber-$222.60; mining – $238.41 and tourism – $248.65.

Employers contend that it is not possible for them to pay workers PDL-linked salaries because they are financially hamstrung. As I personally see it, it’s not that employers do not have the money to pay workers PDL-linked emoluments. They (employers) appear to have an axe to grind with the government and are now trying to set workers against it. This is one of the major reasons why they are reluctant to disclose their financial status to workers , in wage/salary negotiations, in line with the dictates of Section 76 of the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01).

This section states, in clear and unequivocal terms, that “when one party to the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement alleges financial incapacitation as a ground for his inability to agree 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.”

Indeed, it boggles the mind to note that while the cost of living in the country continues on an upward trend, what has remained static, it seems, are the wages and salaries of the majority of workers in industry, who are bearing the brunt of hardship to the extent of subsidising their employers as their take-home pay has decreased beyond rationality and is just not enough to take one to the next pay-day. What offends my own moral sensibilities is that while ordinary workers in industry are literally scrounging around to eke out a living, some managers are earning obscene salaries that, in most cases, exceed $10,000 a month.

A recent survey by a private consultant company shows that the ratio of salaries between managers and ordinary shop-floor workers in industry is 1:90, meaning that some managers earn 90 times more than ordinary workers. Given the fact that the average worker in industry today toils for about $200 a month, this means some managers are earning as much as $18,000 a month before allowances and a plethora of other mouth-watering feather-beddings are factored in. This is not only shocking, but is totally unacceptable in a country like Zimbabwe, whose founding ethos are deeply anchored in socialist philosophy.

Notwithstanding the fact that hordes of workers in industry are being exposed to economic exploitation of elephantine proportions, some employers here in Bulawayo have added salt to injury by introducing short-time working systems, where workers are working for, say two weeks a month, and getting paid 50 to 60 percent of their normal salaries.

What is disconcerting about this short-time working system is that it only affects the scandalously lowly-paid ordinary workers. Managers, on the other hand, are exempted from this short-time working system and continue to receive their hefty salaries and allowances every month.

“Short-time working was introduced at our workplace at the beginning of the year. Before the introduction of this short-time working system, I used to earn a net salary of $140 a month. Now after short-time hours have been deducted from my meagre salary, I remain with a mere $70 a month. I am failing to pay my rent, water/electricity bills, buy food and pay school fees for my children. My landlady is belching fire and brimstone and has threatened to throw me out of my lodgings if I don’t settle my rent arrears at the end of the month,” said a worker from a packaging company, who declined to be identified.

It is the strong contention of this scribe that the plight of workers in industry has been compounded by the fact that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the low-profile Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) have become irrelevant as advocates of workers’ rights.

The ZCTU, in particular, today faces a grave crisis of workers’ confidence and its chances of reclaiming its credibility as an organisation that agitates for the betterment of the lives of its members, the workers, are very slim indeed. If indeed the truth be told without fear or favour, the ZCTU has been like a rudderless ship in a turbulent ocean ever since its firebrand former secretary general Morgan Tsvangirai ditched the labour movement and jumped on the political bandwagon in the late 90s.

Alas, today the ZCTU lacks strong, resolute and visionary leaders, capable of transforming it into a force for advocacy and protection of workers. The clueless bunch of clowns, who occupy leadership positions in the beleaguered labour movement are all misfits.

Like the typical, insensitive and uncouth individuals that they are, they do not have the luxury of a conscience and have done everything possible to disgrace and besmirch trade unionism in Zimbabwe. This, no doubt, is ample testimony to the fact that they boarded the ZCTU ship solely for personal glory and self-aggrandisement and are using their influential positions in the movement to create political power bases for themselves at the expense of the toiling workers. It’s really sad.