adminTrade Unions and the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions – rallied their members to attend celebrations to mark this important day.
However, this year’s celebrations have been held under a cloud as unemployment, which is hovering above 60 percent, is continuing to grow, presenting a challenge to the nation and the Government.
One of the macro-economic objectives for governments is to reduce unemployment, alongside other objectives such as increasing GDP, reducing income inequality, curtailing inflation and also strengthening the external account of a nation.
Economic blueprints
Since the consummation of the Global Political Agreement in 2008, different brilliant economic blue- prints had been churned out from the STERP document, Medium Term Plan, the Industrial Development Policy not mentioning other moves to create employment but these have all been hamstrung by lack of capital and failure to fully implement them.
This has seen employment creation taking a nose- dive with most of the traditional sources of employment which include Government, large corporates such as Ziscosteel, Unilever, Zimasco, Bata Shoe Company, Cairns, David Whitehead Textiles, ZimAlloys and Belmont retrenching and in some instances freezing all new recruitment.
Some of the companies I have mentioned have closed or are on the verge of closing while rescue packages that are supposed to help resuscitate them remain mothballed.
The case of the Chisumbanje ethanol project is a mirror of how employees are exposed to either downright closures or either downsizing which manifests in the form of restructuring.
Employment creation
There is much Zimbabweans are expecting from the Government as one of its major roles, employment creation, seems to be in limbo.
An unemployed populace breeds negative ripple effects to the entire economy which includes increased crime rates as witnessed by the vandalising of public goods.
It erodes the savings regimes since there will be noting to allocate to savings thus constricting growth prospects of the banking sector and it is also a source of tensions for politicians and can also promote brain drain.
Failure to tackle such vices might continue delaying the growth curve of the economy, forestalling the abilities of future generations to take the nation to a different level.
Unemployment rate
With unemployment rate above 60 percent, it is understandable that most workers tend to shun the celebrations to mark the day preferring to engage in other activities such as playing social soccer or running errands to supplement their income.
Over the years there has been a seismic shift on the relevance of the day as leaders of the two notable labour bodies have been spending most of their time fighting for political office at the expense of fighting for the workers’ cause.
That hunger for power has compromised the effectiveness of the labour bodies when in actual fact there are supposed to be the check mechanism to control and contain political excesses.
To date, no meaningful employment creation strategy has come from either ZCTU or ZFTU yet this is one of their mandates.
All over the world including African states, the labour movements are an indispensable pillar in defining the economic course that a nation must pursue.
Cosatu
In South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions is a well-oiled and professionally-run movement whose contribution to socio-economic policies cannot be overemphasised.
While the labour union has been one of the significant policy pillars for the ruling African National Congress, it has continuously exposed the dominant political party’s double-edged approach to vital issues.
In Spain, the austerity mantra has been vehemently opposed notably by the labour movement as they are aware of their role to protect the welfare and interests of workers.
Poor labour policies
In Zimbabwe, we are pushed to eat what we kill and in some times one has to go to bed on an empty stomach even after a kill because of poor labour policies which do not seem to reward hard workers yet our labour movements remain shockingly silent on such issues.
The prevailing employment trends in the country are quite disturbing, the demographics are indicative of a youthful populace with a population pyramid which is relatively wider at the base and getting narrower as it goes up, this is a time bomb which if not well managed can pose unsustainable problems for the nation.
A greater percentage of the youth is either in informal sector or employed in the quasi-retail sector and sometimes in the transport business.
Safety, health and environmental management
Such professions do not provide for safety, health and environmental (SHE) management which impacts negatively on the already disappointing life expectancy at birth if a comparison is made at world scale.
Those presumably employed in the boutique shops which are increasing in number daily have no access to medical aid, they do not contribute to NSSA, and their job security is not guaranteed hence putting more pressure on the fiscus.
Our failure as African states to track the demographic trends is the reason why Europe seem more organised than Africa.
Any resource endowments without projecting their per capita distribution is of no value knowing well that the resources can be prone to abuse or corruption.
Have our labour movements ever imagined where the significant proportion of the youth will be employed in the next decade, it is a fact that the possibility of urban to rural migration is so low which means that our already overcrowded cities would continue to get more pressure.
We miss the middle class and want it back, It is time the Workers’ Day is redefined and means something to everyone.
The hand to mouth trades are not sustainable and we cherish the years we used to look forward to May 1 not as a day to rest from our work stations but rather a day to celebrate our professions and contribution to our beloved Zimbabwe.
Thank you and God bless you.
Christopher Takunda Mugaga is an economist. He is the Head of Research for Econometer Global Capital, a regional finance and economics research firm. He can be contacted on +263 772 340 353, / +263 776 266 062 or on [email protected].
Online Reporter