Retrenched Zupco workers petition Vice President

By Takunda Maodza
Retrenched Zupco employees have petitioned Vice President Joice Mujuru over the parastatal’s alleged failure to pay their exit packages nine months after they were laid off.
The development comes as Zupco is reportedly planning the retrenchment of another 267 workers.
The company retrenched 362 workers last year citing viability problems.
The retrenchment bill is estimated at more than US$2 million.
Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa approved the retrenchment on July 6, 2010.
The employees want VP Mujuru to resolve the impasse.
In their petition, the workers are demanding the immediate quantification of their retrenchment packages and a written payment schedule detailing dates, amounts and the names of the affected employees.
The workers called for the “cessation of all delaying tactics being used by the former employer to frustrate the process” and are demanding full implementation of the retrenchment process.
The letter is dated January 20, 2011.
On Tuesday, the former employees besieged the company’s head office in Harare demanding payment of their exit packages.
They have also engaged Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo over the same issue.
On February 10 they wrote to Minister Chombo accusing the Zupco board of “crafting rigid and ineffective policies” and using “retrenchment as a tool to silence workers”.
On Wednesday VP Mujuru’s office referred The Herald to Local Government Secretary Mr Killian Mpingo, who in turn said the Zupco board and management were better positioned to comment.
Zupco chief executive officer Mr Morris Sakabuya said they were trying to clear the arrears.
“We are facing cash flow problems at the moment. We are buying buses and they will soon be paid,” he said.
Zupco is in the process of buying 100 buses to boost its fleet and Mr Sakabuya said these were expected on March 7.
On January 28, the parastatal applied to the National Employment Council for the Transport Operating Industry for exemption from paying the arbitrator-awarded rates and back pay citing cash flow problems.
Documents in our possession show that all is not well at Zupco.
Only 60 buses were operational as at January 28 2011 and the company has 710 employees.
This places the bus-worker ratio at 1:12 with a wage bill consuming 47 percent of revenue.
The company wants to achieve a ratio of 1:5 and for the wage bill not to exceed 15 percent of revenue – hence the decision to retrench another 267 employees.