Workers’ plight continues to worsen

Feature Tinomuda Chakanyuka
AS WORKERS in Zimbabwe count down to the May Day commemorations on 1 May, they do so with despair and dejection, with little to celebrate as their plight continues to worsen due to the harsh economic situation prevailing in the country as a result of illegal sanctions imposed by the West. Retrenchments, pay cuts, revised work schedules, low salaries and wages, eroded pensions and delays in salary payments are some of the common challenges that labour in Zimbabwe contends with on a daily basis, as companies struggle to stay afloat in an economy that has been besieged by economic sanctions.

While owners of capital may be struggling to break even and remain in business, it is workers who claim to be carrying the heaviest burden of the harsh operational environment.
Overtures by labour to have the country’s labour laws amended on the basis that they were too skewed towards workers and suppressing growth of industry have been treated with great resentment among workers who feel their plight might be worsened with the proposed changes to the labour law regime.

Disgruntled workers have not shied from expressing their discontent with regular demonstrations; a constant and definitive feature of Labour/Capital relations in the country.
On Thursday last week disgruntled National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) workers who are owed huge sums of money in unpaid salaries had their notification for police clearance to hold demonstrations turned down.

The “peaceful” demonstrations were to be held in Harare, Gweru and Mutare for two hours under the auspices of their union, the Zimbabwe Railways Artisans Union (ZARU).
Railway Association of Enginemen (RAE) president Mr Honest Mudzete said workers at the parastatal had gone for almost a year without being paid their salaries noting that the situation had reached boiling point.

“Employees are angry. It is now almost 11 months without receiving salaries. We were expecting to receive our June 2014 salaries by end of March this year but up to now nothing has come. Management are saying the same old thing that there is no money,” said Mr Mudzete.

NRZ workers are owed about $55 million in salary arrears.
Earlier this year railway workers staged a series of nationwide strikes which were followed by overnight vigils by some workers at the Bulawayo main station in March protesting against the non-payment of salaries.

Railway workers are not the only workers who are owed huge sums of money in unpaid salaries, but the phenomenon cuts across all sectors with workers in the clothing and food industries professing similar challenges to their railway counterparts.

Government workers have their own share of challenges, although their situation is slightly better than their counterparts in the private sector.
Newly qualified doctors have gone for almost two months without being paid as a result of a protracted salary deadlock between the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA) and the Health Services Board (HSD).

ZHDA has since appealed for President Mugabe’s intervention to resolve the salary deadlock.
In a statement, ZHDA president Dr Fortune Nyamande said: “We look forward to the day when the President will review the HSB and give it a fresh mandate and direction.” The ZHDA, on behalf of our newly-qualified doctors, calls upon the President to direct the Health Services Board to end this madness where our new doctors have not been remunerated for the past two months. Nurses and teachers have also been on record clamouring for improved working conditions, salaries and benefits.

Companies have been on record complaining of a labour law regime and a restrictive tax regime which they say are militating against productivity. At the Confederation of Zimbabwean Industries (CZI) congress in 2013, there were suggestions that the existing labour laws were burdening productivity and industrial competitiveness in Zimbabwe. CZI thus proposed the following; that fixed term contracts be honoured, that a productivity based remuneration system be introduced and that a standard retrenchment package of one week’s salary for every year worked be introduced.

That is what may be referred to as the concept of Labour Market Flexibility, which always gets workers fretting each time the concept is mentioned.
Citing an adverse operational environment, companies have failed to remit workers’ pension and medical aid contributions despite religiously deducting the contributions each month. Again it is the ordinary employee who suffers the effects of companies deciding not to remit pension and medical aid contributions.

Around this time last year statistics released by the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) showed that pension funds were owed over $200 million in arrears by companies who were not remitting employees’ contributions.

The Local Authorities Pension Fund (LAPF) was one of the worst affected pension funds, being owed more than $100 million by local authorities who were failing to remit contributions.

Although the latest figures could not be immediately established as statistics were still being compiled, IPEC Commissioner Mrs Manette Mpofu said the non-remittance of workers’ contributions by employers was adversely affecting pension funds across sectors.

Most pension funds in the country rely heavily on workers’ contributions, with close to 80 percent of their revenue coming from the monthly premiums.
“This (non-remittance of workers’ contributions) has affected pension funds quite adversely as they will fail to pay fair benefits to members. Some members have retired to a life of poverty as benefits are either very low or take long to be received by pensioners.

“As IPEC we strenuously strive to get the employers to remit contributions to funds. In the majority of cases, employers cite the tough economic conditions including illiquidity for their failure to remit contributions. In addition, the investment climate is such that returns are quite low as most buildings owned and rented out by pension funds receive low rentals as tenants either do not pay or they make erratic payments,” Mrs Mpofu said.

LAPF, which has over 30 000 pensioners, has been failing to make pension payments for the past year, leading to most council pensioners across the country wallowing in abject poverty. It is the case with most pension funds across all sectors.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Mr Japhet Moyo said the plight of workers in the country was worsening as a result of economic challenges and the liquidity crisis that have made it difficult for companies to operate.

He said about 55 000 jobs had been lost in the past year as companies continued to close, a development he said painted a gloomy picture for workers in the country.
Mr Moyo said in light of rampant closure of companies, focus should now be on creating employment locally but he urged Government to create an investor friendly environment that allows companies to operate profitably and be able to pay their workers without strain.

“It’s no secret that we have indigenised the economy and it is now in the hands of locals. Those local investors should operate in an environment that allows them to make profit and meet their obligation to pay workers. That is not to suggest that Government should give in to proposed amendments to the Labour Act.

Local companies are over taxed and that is making the environment difficult to operate in. Unfortunately, it is the workers who suffer the most at the end of the day. Government must revise the tax regime or else the indigenisation programme might fail because of an environment that is hostile to investors.

“If one chooses to operate a service station, they pay tax to Government, EMA will come with its demands and local authorities will be demanding their dues,” said Mr Moyo.
The plight of workers is unquestionably worsening by each day and as labour across the globe mark Workers’ Day, Zimbabwe should be seeking multi-sectoral dialogue to address the challenges being faced by workers and industry.