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Mills at Hippo Valley and Triangle have been down since November 27 when 16,000 Tongaat Hulett workers went on strike, pressing for a salary increment.
Farmers in the south-east lowveld have started complaining as they are stuck with loads of sugarcane that must be milled but can’t be milled because there is no one to do the work. A shortage of the basic commodity is forecast given the three-week disruption. Retailers in Masvingo and Chiredzi have started rationing it.
Tongaat Hulett employees are demanding a salary increase for the lowest paid worker from $173 per month to $300. Basically, all the workers who are participating in the strike are the juniors who earn $173.
The employer offered a $10 pay increase. Workers have rejected it, insisting they will continue with their industrial action until the figure is reviewed to $300 which is comparable to the lowest salary their counterparts at Tongaat Hulett’s units in Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland earn.
Since the job stoppage started, the workers have been blocking the gates preventing delivery trucks, trains and managers from entering the mills and offices.
As a result of the strike, about 480,000 tonnes of sugar are stuck at Tongaat Hulett’s mills.
Workers say they are willing to negotiate but they accuse their employer of blocking negotiations by insisting that the $10 wage increase was the maximum workers can get.
“We have initially agreed to the $10 increment as the minimum offer, but the company is saying that is their maximum offer so that is the bone of contention now.
“We are willing to negotiate, but in the meantime we are saying the strike is continuing until we reach an agreement,” said Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Industry Workers’ Union president, Freedom Madungwe.
Farmers, who have no alternative millers, are calling for a speedy resolution to the impasse.
Edmore Veterai, the chairman of Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association, said: “About 872 farmers have been affected by this strike. We are not on the side of the company or the workers, but we are saying they should resolve this matter because it is not only affecting the employees, but even other downstream industries such as bottling companies and even the transport sector.
“The continuation of this strike may end up opening a floodgate for sugar imports and as farmers, we think the timing of the strike has affected us after toiling for 12 months working on the sugarcane.”
The sugarcane growing and processing industry is one of the country’s most strategic. As the strength of the workers on strike shows, it is a huge employer, 16,000 workers, easily the biggest in the south-east lowveld. It employs more downstream.
Every home needs table sugar. The baking and confectionery, brewing, bottling and other businesses need it too. Without sugar, the south-east lowveld has no economy to talk about. The national economy generates large sums of money when exporting the commodity.
Therefore, we urge workers and their employer to immediately find common ground for the strike to end, mills to run again and the supply of the product to stabilise on the market.
We commend workers for protesting peacefully since November 27. When strikes drag on for so long many things can go wrong, including some protestors resorting to violence to put their message across. However, the 16,000 have exercised their legitimate right to demonstrating within the confines of the law.
With respect, we feel that a $10 salary increase is an insult. Tongaat can do better if really they want to increase workers’ salaries. We implore them to continue negotiating with their workers for a workable settlement that doesn’t affect the market for too long.
Having said that, workers’ demands for their wages to be increased to the level in Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland may not be feasible. Economic conditions in the four countries are definitely different.
The cost of doing business in our economy which is labouring under sanctions cannot be the same with that in the three countries whose economies are more stable and free from the encumbrance of sanctions. Therefore, the prices of sugar here and in the three countries and salaries are bound to be different.
Workers might want to appreciate that the prevailing economic situation is making it difficult for employers to pay well. Some are not paying at all, others are closing down. Many companies are actually dismissing workers amid the economic challenges. So in their demands, workers also need to be rational.
That the government has intervened is encouraging. We saw the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Masvingo, Shuvai Mahofa addressing workers recently and the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Prisca Mupfumira pronouncing herself on the strike on Wednesday.
We look forward to the arbitration bringing the work stoppage to an end on a mutually beneficial basis before it spirals out of control.
Online Reporter