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He questioned the logic behind salary negotiations before previous agreements have been implemented. Industry is headed towards the collective bargaining season.
Adv Marara blamed employers for failing to disclose full information during deliberations in contravention of labour laws.
“The difference between slavery and employment is ultimately the payment of agreed wages,” said Adv Marara.
An economist, Mr Brains Muchemwa, yesterday said the operating models of most companies reflected the excesses of the Zimbabwe dollar era that exhibited low productivity, high operating costs and inefficient manpower structures.
“Unfortunately unlike the Zimdollar era where real wages were close to nothing, the dollarised environment has brought about real costs from the wages perspective and most companies now realise they have excess labour whose productivity is very low.
“Even though corporate revenues have been increasing in general, the productivity per employee has been lagging behind the increases in operating costs, the reason why many companies still cannot meet the wage expectations,” he said.
Mr Muchemwa said it was unfortunate that the country’s labour laws were “archaic and tend to over-protect employees” at the expense of the solvency of the companies that employ them.
“Considering the scarcity of working capital and the tight debt markets, the retrenchment route has not been a tenable option for most of the big employers and they continue to bleed from over staffing issues and it’s indeed high time the policymakers review the labour laws in this country to safeguard most of the big employers from bankruptcy,” he said. Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions president Mr Jacob Gwavava blamed strikes on employers’ lack of transparency.
“Industrial action is a last resort and this is being fuelled by employers who are refusing to honour collective bargaining agreements.
“Honestly, how can an employer agree to a collective bargaining agreement then later refuse to comply with it or even an arbitration award?” He urged Government to prosecute employers who continue to hold workers to ransom.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter