Workers’ unions compromised

Cuthbert Mavheko
Most workers may have thought that the decision by the Government a few years ago to shift the responsibility of determining salary increments in the private sector to labour unions and employers would transform the workplace into the proverbial Garden of Eden.
They, particularly those in industry, might have visualised a workplace with decent remuneration, improved working conditions and respect for workers’ rights.

However, many must be disappointed to note the reality behind the dismal statistics that tell us that, due to unmitigated economic exploitation, today more than 85 percent of workers in industry are languishing in the poverty trap. The situation in industry is characterised in the biblical saying that “unto those who have more shall be given and those who have not even the little they have shall be taken away from them and given to those who have.”

The situation of the worker is compounded by the fact that they lack committed representation as workers committees have become lapdogs of employers.

In industry, those who have are the managers, who are treated as monarchs. They earn hefty salaries and receive a plethora of lucrative feather-beddings that include free education for their children who attend expensive private schools, posh company cars, flamboyant mansions in exclusive suburbs and annual company-sponsored holidays abroad, to mention just a few. Ordinary workers on the other hand are treated as nonentities, mere tools to be overworked, underpaid and discarded willy-nilly.

A recent survey by a private labour consultant shows that the ratio of salaries between ordinary workers and some managers is 1:90, meaning that some managers in industry actually earn 90 times more than ordinary workers. This is not only shocking, but is also totally unacceptable in a country like Zimbabwe, whose founding ethos are deeply rooted in socialist philosophy.

Our own constitution states, in clear and unambiguous language, that every Zimbabwean worker – manager or ordinary worker – has a right to be paid fair and reasonable remuneration for his or her to afford decent shelter, food and clothing. These are basic human requirements for everyone and one should not be seen to be so poor as to fail to afford them.

However, the tragic irony is that due to excessive economic exploitation, most workers in industry are living like paupers despite being employed.

The textile industry concluded its wage/salary negotiations for the second half of the year not so long ago. Workers were awarded a seven percent, across-the-board increment, which raised the minimum wage from $182 to $194,83. How are workers expected to survive on such pathetic remunerations is beyond comprehension.

What adds salt to the wound is the way in which the Zimbabwe Textile Workers’ Union (ZTWU), which represents workers in the sector, misled workers by raising their expectations that they would receive wage/salary increments linked to the Poverty Datum Line (PDL). According to a document dated 3 June 2013, which was submitted to workers and the National Employment Council (NEC) of the textile industry, the ZTWU made the following demands:

•  That employers in the textile sector increase workers emoluments to PDL levels (that is about $500 a month).

• That employers award workers housing and transport allowances of $210 and $44 a month respectively.

All in all, the ZTWU demanded a basic salary of about $752 a month, including housing and transport allowances, for the lowest paid worker in the sector.

The tragic reality is that a few months down the line, the same union sanctioned a paltry minimum wage of $194,83, which not only runs counter to workers’ expectations, but is also minuscule in comparison to what the average worker needs to have a decent standard of life.
There is a spectrum of possible explanations why the ZTWU appears hamstrung and clueless in stirring up agitation for decent salaries for workers in the textile sector. One plausible explanation is that, like most unions in industry, the ZTWU spends most of its time meddling in politics and no longer has time for workers, notwithstanding the fact that it continues to exact high union dues from the hapless workers every month.

The other reason, which is now an open secret among workers in the textile industry, is that for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver, the leadership of the ZTWU is now sleeping in the same bed with the very employers who are exploiting workers.

All these reasons are scandalous, albeit at different degrees. It is pertinent to observe that the ZTWU’s credibility as an advocate of workers’ rights has nose-dived as a result of its apparent failure to discharge its mandates and to operate within the ambits of its jurisdiction.
For many years now, workers in the textile industry have been fed on a diet of empty promises by a union which has failed to deliver. This has, sad to say, now set workers on a collision course with the beleaguered labour union.

“All promises made by the ZTWU have so far come to naught. We now say enough is enough. Workers at our company have decided to resign from ZTWU and join a union affiliated to the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions. We know this will not be easy because our employers have an umbilical relationship with the ZTWU, but this will not deter us,” said a workers’ committee chairperson of a textile company, who refused to be named.

The views of this scribe are based on a solid foundation of experience. I have worked in industry for the better part of my working life and was involved in trade unionism as a workers’ committee chairperson at my workplace. I attended a plethora of seminars and workshops focusing on labour laws and regulations, workers’ rights, the role of workers’ committee and trade unions and so forth. I also had the privilege to attend wage/ salary negotiations held at both company and National Employment Council levels.

During my tenure in office as a workers’ representative, I rubbed shoulders with captains of industry, company chief executives, labour/NEC officials and trade unionists from diverse sectors of the economy.  One striking observation I made is that most trade unions in industry lack bona fide trade unionists within their ranks. What we have in these unions are   mainly corrupt, morally-bankrupt individuals who joined the labour movement, not to serve the interests of workers, but for purposes of personal glory and

self-aggrandisement.
If indeed the truth be told without fear or favour, the generality of trade unionists in industry are practising double standards – they serve the interests of workers with one hand and those of employers with the other hand. This has become their modus operandi.

Indeed, it is a sad and tragic development in the history of trade unionism in Zimbabwe that labour unions that were formed for the express purpose of serving the interests of workers, have now abrogated their role and, for the love of fame and fortune, are now colluding with employers in perpetuating the economic subjugation of workers.

It seems clear, all things considered, that the onus is now on the Government to intervene on behalf of the workers in industry by reverting to its former role of determining wage/salary increments for them. It is the contention of this scribe that employers in industry will never pay their workers decent remuneration, unless they are compelled to do so by the Government through some form of legislation.