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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
NATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) workers who were fired by the parastatal under the three months notice have filed an urgent application at the Bulawayo High Court challenging their dismissal at the beginning of this month.
The NRZ laid off more than 500 workers taking advantage of the July 17 Supreme Court ruling that allows companies to terminate contracts on three months’ notice. A thousand more are expected to be given their letters of termination anytime soon.
The NRZ massive job cuts saw the inspectorate services and the research design and development sections being shut down.
Through their union, the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railways Workers’ Union (ZARWU), the workers filed the application last week, arguing that their dismissals were unlawful.
ZARWU president, Kamurai Moyo, said yesterday the union could not just watch the parastatal firing workers willy-nilly.
“We decided to take the legal route and filed a court application against the dismissal of the workers because they were fired unprocedurally.
“We want NRZ to either pay the workers their packages or reinstate them. We will not sit and watch while NRZ unlawfully fires workers that haven’t been paid since last year,” said Moyo.
Their lawyer, Vonani Majoko also confirmed the development.
“The workers are arguing that their dismissal was unlawful and they’re challenging it in the High Court. They’re saying instead of retrenching them, the parastatal gave them notices. They want their employer to reinstate them,” said Majoko.
The parastatal filed its opposing papers on Friday through its lawyer, Alec Muchadehama.
Muchadehama said the workers’ dismissals were lawful.
“What NRZ did is in line with the Supreme Court ruling and we’ve already filed a notice of opposition in the High Court. The other reason why we opposed the application is because the High Court has no jurisdiction to deal with this case as it’s a labour matter. It’s also not an urgent case,” said Muchadehama.
NRZ has been limping as a result of the general decline of the country’s economy.
The parastatal has, over the years, been facing many challenges which include obsolete equipment, lack of rail line maintenance and high staff overheads. Neglect of maintenance work, lack of spare parts and overdue replacement of equipment has resulted in only part of the rail network remaining in good condition while equipment problems have led to reduced service.
At its peak, the NRZ was one of the biggest employers in the country with an 18,000 strong workforce.
More than 20,000 workers have lost their jobs throughout the country in the past month and the figure is expected to go up as struggling companies use the Supreme Court ruling to dismiss workers without paying the costly packages.
Last week, parliamentarians and senators had to be recalled to expedite the adoption of the new Labour Amendment Bill so as to halt further job terminations.
More changes are, however, expected to be made after Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Cde Prisca Mupfumira, said the government would this week meet employers and trade unions to discuss the Bill.
As workers celebrated the passage of the Bill, employers were largely apprehensive as they argued that the Bill would result in rapid company closures and frustrate investors.
Online Reporter