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Raymond Jaravaza . .
LOSING a job is a gut wrenching feeling any worker can ever go through.
But imagine being served a letter of dismissal in a bar while enjoying cold beers with friends and colleagues.
Bulawayo Mining Company — formerly Metallon Gold — will probably go down in history as an “inconsiderate employer” when it comes to serving its employees with retrenchment notices.
It has emerged that some workers were slapped with dismissal letters by the company’s human resources (HR) department officials at night at home and in bars.
On Friday 31 August, 44 workers were served with letters of retrenchment and ordered to stop reporting for work with immediate effect.
The following Monday, 16 other workers joined the unemployment wagon in similar fashion.
B-Metro is in possession of a copy of the dismissal letter served to the 60 workers.
“Please be advised that due to restructuring, your position has become redundant and accordingly, you are hereby given three months notice of termination of your employment. The notice period will run from 1st September 2018 to 30th November 2018 in line with the Labour Act. A retrenchment package is being negotiated in the Works Council.
“We thank you for all the time you have been with Bulawayo Mining Company (Pvt) Ltd and wish you success in your future endeavours,” read the letter.
However, representatives of the fired workers are breathing fire.
They say the affected workers were fired unfairly without following due process.
“Workers were not notified prior to the retrenchments about the company’s plans to lay off some employees. Some of the employees were, in fact, served with dismissal letters at night in their homes and in some instances others were given the letters in bars while drinking on a Friday night,” said Sarah Banda, who was in the company of nine other workers that have formed a committee to represent the axed employees.
Banda was also laid off after working for the company for over a decade.
She is the councillor for Ward 18 in Umzingwane District and a member of the Matabeleland South Provincial Zanu-PF Women’s League.
Some of the fired workers include a credit supervisor, ambulance technicians, artisans, a geologist, training officers and a chief store keeper.
“Instead of serving the three- month notices, we were ordered to stop reporting for work immediately and the works council has been quiet while workers’ rights are trampled on,” she said.
Another axed worker Nhamo Makhado, who has worked for the gold miners for nearly 19 years, weighed in.
“We inquired with the HR department how the company plans to pay us our retrenchment packages but we hit a brick wall.
“Rumour has it that the company wants to pay us two weeks’ wages for every year that one has worked at the mine,” said Makhado.
The aggrieved workers approached the National Employment Council (NEC) and were shown a letter in which Bulawayo Mining Company stated that it was retrenching workers who were injured in the mine and could no longer work.
“None of the fired workers suffered injuries at work so the company is not being completely honest. In fact, some of our positions have already been filled by other people so we don’t understand why we were retrenched in the first place,” continued Makhado.
Bulawayo Mining Company works council chairman Christopher Munjanja blasted the workers for speaking to the media.
“I don’t understand why they came to you (B-Metro) without my knowledge,” said Munjanja.
Quizzed if the works council had represented the axed employees in negotiations with the company Munjanja pulled the protocol card.
“I have to get clearance from the HR department to speak about such issues so I will not comment,” he said.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from the company’s HR boss Sibuyile Hadebe were fruitless as her cellphone went unanswered.
Online Reporter