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Davies Ndumiso Sibanda, Labour Matters
A majority of Zimbabweans working both in the informal and formal sector are paid salaries or wages that are way below appropriate NEC minimums and due to economic hardships, many individuals are willing to work for these painfully low wages without complaining.

A survey which we undertook shows that domestic workers’ monthly wages in the majority of cases range between $40-$70 a month, retail outlets employee wages range between $80-$150, flea-market employees earn between $50-$60, restaurant employees earn between $80-$120, headsmen $40-$70, small scale gold mine workers ±$120 or a percentage share of proceeds, rural village attendant $40-$70 per month. All these wages if aligned to particular NECs are illegal and way below the minimum and could easily get employers in trouble with NECs but workers do not approach NECs to complain. Present economic environment puts the relevance of NECs into question and threatens the viability of Trade Union, Employers’ Associations and NECs. There are arguments that the situation on the ground is beyond what NEC, Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations were designed to handle.

At contracting, many employers will clearly tell the worker that they cannot afford the legal minimum and for the worker it’s a take it or leave it situation.

As a result many honest workers we interviewed were alive to the fact that they are paid below the legal minimum but said its better off to have a job and be paid something than to be unemployed. Some were even very hostile to our inquiries arguing that they do not want anything to do with NEC minimums or a discussion of their salaries as they struggled to get their jobs and have nothing to do with minimum wage. They argued that they do not want anything that could upset their employers.

The culture of fear of losing jobs if they report underpayment to the NEC is very prevalent amongst employees thus they are hostile to anybody who tries to inquire about their salaries and such it’s an opaque area on wage statistics. Until the economy recovers, this position shall remain unchanged and exploitation of the employed is likely to increase. Employers on the other hand argue it’s not exploitation but they are paying what they can afford which unfortunately is true in some cases.

Those employers who have been taken to NECs before over underpayments have resorted to employing relatives and friends at low wages and due to relationships, the likelihood of reporting underpayment or litigating is greatly reduced. We also found a few employers with rudimentary agreements whereby the parties conceded that the salaries were below the NEC minimum but through mutual agreement they have contracted.

These agreements are never sent to the NEC for exemption purposes and as such their legality is suspect although some legal experts have argued that some agreements are perfect given the fact that all NECs are voluntary and constitutionally their minimum wages cannot be extended to non-members.

This argument has however not been tested at the Constitutional Court. In conclusion, the majority of employed people, if we are to put the formal and informal employment into one basket, they are underpaid in terms of appropriate NEC regulations showing that society has responded to economic realities better than NECs and in the majority of cases NECs are dwarfed by the prevailing economic environment, they were not designed to handle such situations.

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: email: [email protected], or cell No: 0772 375 235