adminThe ongoing dismissals of workers on three months’ notice which have seen more than 20,000 people being sacked within four weeks is a necessary evil that will correct itself if allowed to play out, an expert has said. Chartered Institute of Customer Relationship Management Africa (CIRCMA) executive director Chris Kasiyazi says the move was laying the ground for positive medium term economic feedback.
Kasiyazi told New Ziana that the exercise was long overdue and set the economy up for a recovery.
“At face value it is a bad thing but our labour laws have been problematic as they were biased against the employer and investor, and this move is actually a necessary pain that will change things,” he said.
“Companies have been saddled with large numbers of workers who had not been productive due to the low work ethic and now the threat of termination will actually drive up production,” he added.
“The terminations will self-correct as production spikes up and companies realise the need for more human resources having started with the necessary number,” he said.
“Companies are being left with only the necessary and needed numbers conducive for increased production and profitability. As time moves on, with increased product demands, they will look for those people,” Kasiyazi said.
He said many companies had allowed themselves to keep large numbers of workers due to lack of funds to finance retrenchments.
“They can now offload the excess labour and this is good for matters of production and I can tell you in the long term, come the next economic review, we shall all be smiling as the economy will have made some significant recoveries”, he said.
Following the wave of arbitrary dismissals in the private and public sectors, the Zimbabwe government has since proposed amendments to the Labour Act which will be fast racked in Parliament.
The amendments are expected to protect both employer and employees. — New Ziana
Online Reporter