admin Japhet Moyo
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions will be commemorating this year’s Workers’ Day in different parts of the country, but the main events will be at Dzivaresekwa Stadium in Harare and Stanley Square in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
Zimbabweans, and workers in particular, face a myriad of challenges that range from poverty, inequality, unemployment and underemployment, wage theft, labour brokers and unfair labour practices.
We cannot face these challenges if we continue to mourn without tackling them head-on.
It is upon realisation that we are masters of our destiny that we celebrate Labour Day with the theme: “We are at a crossroad, arise and organise. Do not mourn”.
The past year has not been good for Zimbabwean workers as most of them had to endure long difficult months without salaries, with some only being paid enough to get them back to work the next day.
A recent study by the ZCTU has shown that the majority of employees are working without pay while their bosses are living luxurious lives.
The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.
Our research shows that at least 120 000 workers across the country worked without pay between 2015 and last year.
An estimated 350 000 formally employed workers have sunk into poverty, while their bosses live large: This is wage theft.
Wage theft is the denial of wages or employee benefits that are rightfully owed to an employee.
This can be conducted through various means such as: failure to pay overtime, minimum wage violations, employee misclassification, illegal deductions of salary, working off the clock, or not being paid at all.
While we appreciate the liquidity challenges that the country is facing due to various reasons, we believe most of them are of our own Government making.
There must be policies that ensure equitable distribution of available resources. After all, it is the worker who toils day and night to ensure the companies realise profits.
When in 2011 the ZCTU started campaigns against excessive salary disparities most people did not take it seriously until the media began exposing top company bosses who were earning between $60 000 and $500 000 per month, while the lowest workers were earning as little as $200 per month.
Today we stand here vindicated. As labour, we are very much alive to efforts by employers to decimate our membership through unnecessary retrenchments and termination of contracts using obnoxious laws designed to destroy the labour movement in the country.
It is sad to note that we continue to pronounce laws that point to labour market flexibility without due regard to the rights of workers.
Although investment is key in employment creation in any country, it is our strong view that any investor coming into the country must bring not just jobs, but decent jobs that offer living wages and safe and humane working conditions.
In that regard, we call upon Government to ensure that those investing in Special Economic Zones abide by the labour laws of this country.
A repeat of export processing zones where workers were stripped of their fundamental rights should not be entertained.
Unemployment has become a big threat to Zimbabwe’s stability. We must put our heads together to fight this threat.
We are worried that the high level of unemployment is contributing to the rise in poverty, in turn leading to breakdown of families and a rise in vices such as child prostitution, and drug and alcohol abuse among others.
Workers have the power to decide their own destiny.
As we approach the 2018 plebiscite, we urge them to exercise their voting right to elect leaders who have their interests at heart.
In labour we have permanent interests and not permanent friends.
Mr Japhet Moyo is the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general. He wrote the article for The Sunday Mail
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