Labour unions sleeping on the job

out that most of them are reactionary, that is they only act when employees hold placards demanding something from employers.
They come out holding big files, full of outdated Acts, irrelevant newspaper cuttings and outdated data from either Consumer Council of Zimbabwe or ZimStats, clad in suits and ties and then confront the employer demanding “improved conditions of service”.
Time is not on their side. By definition, a trade union is as organisation whose membership consists of workers and union leaders, united to protect and promote their common interests. The principal purposes of a labour union are to negotiate wages and working condition regulate relations between workers (its members) and the employer.
They also have to take collective action to enforce the terms of collective bargaining, raise new demands on behalf of its members, and help settle their grievances.
A trade union may be a company union that represents the interests of only one company and may not have any connection with other unions. This may also be called a house union and is often a bogus one and generally illegal, a general union that represents workers from several companies in the same industry, and this is called industrial union.
A craft union represents skilled workers in a particular field such as carpentry or welding.
The above unions may then be affiliated to a mother union, for example Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions or Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions.
What’s wrong with our unions?
The question is why are they in retreat when the need for labour solidarity is so clear and so great? Why can’t they bring workers together to resist the ravages of job-killing technology, falling wages, increased exploitation and spreading poverty?
These questions need answers – the right answers – because they are of vital importance to every worker in Zimbabwe.
However, most discussions on unions and unionism often produce more heat and acrimony than fact and logic.
This shows how much confusion there is on the union question. It also shows that the unions have failed to prove to workers that they have what it takes to defend their interests.
Every schoolchild knows that there is strength in unity and that disunity brings only weakness and confusion, demoralisation and defeat. The union principle is sound, yet the unions fail to unite the workers. They fail even to protect the small and shrinking numbers who belong to them and pay their dues.
It should be obvious to everyone that something is wrong. What may not be obvious, however, is pinpointing the crux of the matter.
That’s why workers need to give serious thought to the union in question. Indeed, it is supremely important that they do so because the future welfare of the workers of Zimbabwe (and ultimately the workers of the world) depends upon workers having clear and accurate information on the nature and character of today’s unions and on the correct principles of union organisation.
Most of today’s unions are dedicated to principles that run counter to the best interests of the workers. That’s why they fail to unite the workers and why they become obstacles to workers’ efforts to defend themselves against ruthless exploitation.
They call themselves unions, but they are not based on the principle of working-class unity.
They divide workers instead of uniting them. Our unions, instead of complementing each other, they are actually competing against each other at the detriment of worker interests. If you want facts, I can provide.
It is a historic fact that the unions were born out of a hard, bitter and often violent struggle between capitalists and labour.
The focal point of this struggle was the division of labour’s product into wages and profits.
As long as the capitalists could deal directly with individual workers, the workers were virtually helpless. That’s why workers united into unions. Capitalist exploitation of workers did not stop when some workers formed unions.
The struggle over the division of labour’s product continues to this day. The unions only made it possible for workers to resist in numbers.
At first, the capitalists tried to destroy the unions. Compelled by the profit motive and competition from their capitalist rivals, they tried to keep wages low and to get ever more production out of the workers.
The workers, on the other hand, driven both by sheer necessity and by normal ambition to rise above a state of constant want, resisted and sought to force wages up. It was like dividing an apple in two parts. If one part was larger, the other had to be smaller, and this was the case whether the capitalist “apple” was big, as in boom times, or small, as in periods of depression.
Accordingly, the struggle over labour’s product is not simply a struggle between individual workers and their employers.
It is a struggle between the working and capitalist classes – a class struggle that is inherent and inseparable from the capital-labour relationship.
Union corruption
Corruption has followed inevitably. Most union leaders started out as sincere and honest people, but the harsh realities of capitalism quickly disillusioned them. The more hopeless the plight of the rank and file appeared, the more the union leaders turned to feathering their own nests.
Careerists and opportunists rose to the top, exploiting the workers’ instinct for solidarity to promote their own bureaucratic interests as labour merchants of the capitalist class of labour exploiters. Unions have sacrificed and bartered workers’ interests in exchange for such things as the “union shop” and the dues “check off” that practically make the capitalist employer a union official and dues collector.
They seal these deals with labour contracts that tie workers’ hands and that capitalists often break. This is corruption of the worst kind. It perverts the historic mission of unionism. Real unions aim to achieve solidarity of labour.
This is a cancer here in Zimbabwe that has e compromised our union leaders.
Inability to organise at grassroots has been another reason why trade unions are failing workers. This has led to the emergence of bogus “trade unionists”, who are busy stealing from unsuspecting victims of unfair labour practices and in the process these “officials” end up taking more money when the victim “wins” his or her case. They purport to be trade union officials and when you meet them at Makombe Building for conciliation or arbitration, the moment they open their mouth, you then begin to wonder and even question their credibility and ability to represent anyone.
Therefore if labour unions mobilise from grassroots upwards, make their presents known, chances of worker exploitation will be reduced.
Failure to treat members as customers has been a major cause for concern. Some union officials are mainly worried about their pockets and in the process forget their core business.
Lack of proper training and skills has been the major blow for most unionists as they lack communication, negotiation and even the basic bargaining skills, tactics and strategies.
Trade unionists are also failing because they tend to be reactive instead of being proactive.
Most of them are firefighters and this has actually affected workers seriously. Definitely such unionists will not take us anywhere.
However, on the other end they are failing due to circumstances beyond their control such as economic performance (economy), lack of co-operation from some employers and lack of clear legal framework to regulate their activities. The Labour Act Chapter 28:01 has provisions for unions but they are too general and I think a clear piece of legislation like the Trade Unions Act will suffice.
Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any damages or losses suffered as a result of actions taken based on information contained herein. The information contained herein does not serve as alternative to legal advice.
l Taurai Musakaruka is Human Resources Practitioner and for feedback e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

 

 

 

Lack of adequate operating resources is also hampering union’s operations and this in the end is also affecting their performance.
However, before workers can achieve genuine solidarity they must rise above job consciousness and become class-conscious.
They must learn that their own interests as individuals are linked together with those of every other worker.
Then and not until then can they organise themselves as a class, employed and unemployed, skilled and unskilled, office worker and factory worker and so on.
Divided, they are exploited, abused and deprived of the potential for using their collective strength.
United, they will no longer be an easy class to rule. On the contrary, the exploiters and their labour lieutenants will learn that their ruling days are numbered.
Disclaimer I do not accept any liability for any damages or losses suffered as a result of actions taken based on information contained herein.
The information contained herein does not serve as alternative to legal advice. Taurai Musakaruka is Human Resources Practitioner and for feedback e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]