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Brighton Gumbo
Business Reporter
THE business community has called for a further review of the new Labour Act saying some of its provisions were contradictory.
Discussing the law during a labour seminar in Bulawayo last Friday, business executives and labour experts said it contains conflicting and imbalanced provisions.President Robert Mugabe signed the Labour Amendment Bill into law on August 27. It repealed common law provisions that had been used by employers to wantonly fire workers on three months’ notice without severance packages.
The government fast-tracked the Bill through Parliament within a week as it sought to end the trail of job losses following the July 17 landmark Supreme Court ruling. Unions blasted employers for taking advantage of the ruling to dismiss more than 20,000 workers.
Prominent labour expert and Stratways Managing Consultant Davies Ndumiso Sibanda said some of the provisions in the Act were not in line with reality.
“Section 93C item 2 part b provides for payment of damages to the employees for loss or prospective loss. This clause contradicts section 12C item 2, which provides for retrenchment packages for dismissed employees,” said Sibanda.
He said the provisions meant that employers will have to choose the cheaper route between dismissal and terminating on notice and pay retrenchment packages.
“As things stand going through the disciplinary process for employers is unnecessary in the majority of cases. Unfortunately it leaves workers with short service exposed and those with long service safe,” Sibanda said.
He said the law was not clear on the way forward in the labour dispute resolution process.
“Section 5C of the labour law doesn’t explain the process the labour officer goes through before making a finding on the balance of probabilities that a party is wrong or right,” said Sibanda with participants concurring.
“It seems once a certificate of no settlement is issued, the labour officer doesn’t have to call parties for submission before making a decision but that conciliation submissions will be on the basis of decision making. That approach has its own problems.”
Sibanda said the new legislation was likely to attract a lot of litigation over retrenchment packages.
He said not all workers will benefit from the legislative changes.
“In fact it provides possibly one of the cheapest methods of downsizing in case of financial challenges for employers, where the employer gets proper legal guidance,” said Sibanda.
The new Labour Act provides among others, for a minimum retrenchment package of two-week pay for each year served, a retrospective application of the law on termination on notice for those dismissed between July 17 and August 27and default applications for exemptions accorded to the employer.
The event was attended by academics, company executives, local authorities and civic society leaders among them the National University of Science and Technology, Zimra, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Blanket Mine, Victoria Falls Municipality and Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
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