adminTHE Labour Act will be further amended to incorporate input from trade unions and business, as tripartite negotiations on the future of workers dismissed on three-month notices since July 17, 2015 begin. It is understood that talks to this end between Government, labour and business could start as soon as this week. The social partners will also consider a Tripartite Negotiating Forum Bill to regulate their interactions and foster greater cohesion between Government, business and labour.
Last week the executive and legislature expedited the Labour Amendment Bill to halt summary job terminations triggered by a 17 July Supreme Court ruling upholding common law practice allowing dismissal of workers via three-month notices. As workers celebrated passage of the Bill, employers were largely apprehensive as they argued that the changes would precipitate rapid company liquidation and dissuade investment.
The Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe accused Government of flagrantly trampling tripartism by ignoring its recommendations on amendments.
The bone of contention is the Bill’s retrospective outlook, which will see all workers fired on notice since 17 July being paid one month’s salary for every two years of service.
The amendments were passed by Senate and the National Assembly and await Presidential assent to become law.
In an interview, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said it was, in fact, industry that had dragged its feet when invited to discuss the Bill.
It has also been reported that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions also initially snubbed Government’s enjoinder to discuss the matter of the spate of sackings.
Minister Mupfumira said the State went it alone to prevent further job losses and would now meet employers and trade unions to discuss further legal innovations.
“The TNF will resume normal sittings on Friday to consider, among other things, burning labour issues that have been very topical over the last few weeks. Critical agenda items will be the Draft TNF Bill, a law that will guide interactions among Government, business and labour.
“The meetings had been put on ice following the Supreme Court ruling of 17 July. Another key agenda item will be the consideration of further amendments to the Labour Act. The process (of amending the law) is ongoing.”
On charges of unilateralism, Minister Mupfumira said: “Aware that we were dealing with an emergency, we called an emergency TNF meeting after having witnessed industry taking advantage of that (Supreme Court) ruling to fire workers at will.
“We wrote to all parties inviting them to meet, but business, it appeared, was unwilling to co-operate. In the first instance, they claimed they had other engagements on the dates we had set.
“On the second occasion, they claimed that the invitation had come at short notice. They argued they were yet to make relevant consultations. We believed they were doing this just to buy time while workers continued to lose their jobs.
“The situation had become untenable and as Government we had to move and not allow the situation to deteriorate any further. We went ahead and gazetted the Bill; that is when they wrote us saying they wanted to convene a meeting to discuss the Draft Bill.”
Responding to inquiries by our Harare Bureau, Emcoz president Mr Jack Murehwa said the organisation would engage its social partners and ruled out litigation once the Bill becomes law.
Emcoz comprises the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Mines, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, the Commercial Farmers’ Union and the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism. — Harare Bureau
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