admin“A total of 3 605 employees have been retrenched from January 2011 to date, 2000 more compared to the same period last year,” said the official, who declined to be named.
“The hardest hit is the mining sector; the reason being cited is the restructuring of the organisations.”
The official said other affected employees were those in the banking, transport, hotel and catering and clothing and textile industries.
The board said the figures would have increased by year-end.
“We still have five pending applications,” said the official.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Joseph Kanyekanye bemoaned the lack of liquidity which has impacted negatively on capacity utilisation.
“The number of companies seeking to retrench is increasing by the month as companies grapple and continue to suffer from a liquidity crunch and a general lack of capitalisation,” he said.
“The retrenchments are likely to go up in the coming year especially if National Employment Council gives unsustainable wage increases.”
Commenting on the issue, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union secretary general Japhet Moyo said statistics on those laid off were unhealthy for the country since the unemployment rate was already high.
“The figures are alarming and we urge the Government to revise the Labour Act to come up with an agreed and known formula to calculate retrenchment packages so that every one who wants to lay off workers will know exactly what to give the retrenchees,” he said.
Several companies, including Air Zimbabwe, the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe, Jaggers and the majority of banks operating in the country have retrenched during the year. — New Ziana.
derick.khumalo