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A number of companies in Zimbabwe have succumbed to the prevailing liquidity crunch. Some have closed shop while many others have been forced to reduce staffing levels. Others are just getting by, hoping for a better tomorrow.The long and short of it is that many companies are paying survival wages in the hope of an economic rebound in the near future. Staff is never certain about their pay day.
What all this means is that there are very few companies viable enough to provide a base from which Government can collect taxes to pay its workers on time.
It must, therefore, have been a pleasant surprise when Government finally paid teachers their bonus this week to honour a pledge made last year. Given the shrinking tax base, there were fears that Government might not be able to fulfil its pledge.
Teachers were also threatening industrial action as schools are due to open next week. Political opportunists were already at work trying to make their hay out of this nation’s misfortune. Fortunately, Government has been able to pre-empt them while teachers should be happy for this timely relief.
A majority of the blessed workers who received their bonus last November or December might have had a fabulous festive period, but now wish they were in the same situation as teachers. It is school fees time and most of them don’t know what happened to the bonus cheque.
But there are also important lessons to be drawn from what Government has done.
One is that it is important for employers to live up to their word. Government has met its pledge to its employees despite facing the same financial constraints as other employers. This helps not only to boost the morale of the employees, but also to build trust between employer and employee. It shows an employer who cares.
Secondly, retrenching workers because of financial challenges is not always the best way to go. If anything, this should be adopted as the last option by any employer.
For a long time, Government has been under extreme pressure from opposition political parties and the International Monetary Fund to cut its wage bill. This in short entails retrenching workers. It is easier said than done.
We have no problem with Government doing away with so-called redundant or ghost workers draining the fiscus. But what is often missed is that the Government bill is a matter of breadwinners, not just statistics. These are people who have onerous responsibilities and some have faithfully served in Government since 1980.
Their retrenchment affects a number of dependants down the line. It would be a disaster if we had a government which treats its work force as mere statistical data and not human beings. At least we have a Government with a heart.
We want to believe that our hard working teachers will also take the bonus in good faith and not as a reaction to their strike threat. It should be an incentive and inspire the teachers to exert themselves as the schools open next week.
Of late, the pass rates for most schools have not been pleasing to parents. Various reasons have been advanced for the poor performance, from lack of incentives for teachers to lack of resources. But we don’t believe that resorting to strike action is the way to go. This is because it is our children who lose out in the short to long term, never to recover again.
Teachers can be aggrieved for sometime, but when their money comes, they get it in full. The same cannot be said of students who miss out on lessons while teachers are on strike or so-called go slow. It is, therefore, in the best interest of the teachers to win the support of parents by demonstrating that they can deliver.
The current economic challenges affect Government as well as private companies and there are no shortcuts out. Everyone has a role to play in the economic recovery. Political games and the populist blame game won’t help us.
Online Reporter