The Sunday News
Harare Bureau
CABINET And Parliament will soon consider amendments to the Labour Act to halt the spate of termination of employment contracts on notice by companies in recent weeks.
Cabinet’s Legislation Committee last week approved the draft amendments.
On Wednesday, President Mugabe said Government wanted to protect workers from indiscriminate dismissal.
Over 9 000 workers have been fired since the Supreme Court ruled in June that employers could give three months’ job termination notice outside retrenchment processes.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said: “We now have the Draft Bill and (this week), this Bill will be presented before the full Cabinet. If approved, the Bill will then be tabled before Parliament. It should be understood that we are expediting the process, putting in as much work as we can so that we follow due legal process.
“When the Supreme Court judgment came out, we were engaging social partners on draft amendments. There is nothing wrong with the judgment; it was interpretation of the law. So, what we are doing now is making a new law to ensure it protects workers.”
Minister Mupfumira said her ministry had engaged labour and employer representatives and discussions would continue under the auspices of the Tripartite Negotiating Forum.
Human resources expert Mr Edwin Mudavanhu said the three social partners — Government, labour and business — should follow TNF principles.
“In all truth, reverence should be given to the interplay of complex interests among Government, labour and business as the reforms are instituted. In the main, expectations are that the Bill will be drafted to shun selective application and multiple interpretation of legislative provisions.
“At the same time, a comprehensive outline of statutes will clear the mist in understanding it and avoid ambiguities.
With such a hybrid legal product catering for all tripartite interests, Zimbabwe will prosper in leaps and bounds.”
Labour lawyer Mr Rodgers Matsikidze added: “There is a need for the Labour Act (28:01) to be amended in order to create balance and protection for both parties. The current law, which provides for termination on notice, removes that balance. Without the balance, abuse is inevitable.”
Human resources management expert Mr Memory Nguwi said any amendments should include minimum retrenchment standards and should review minimum wage benchmarks.
“On retrenchment, the law should come up with a benchmark, which, for example, says a worker should be paid a minimum rate of a week’s wages for every year served,” he said. “This is what has been discussed during stakeholder meetings and I think it should be adopted like that. On the minimum wage, this should be negotiated at company level instead of industry level.”
On 17 July 2015, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku — sitting with four Supreme Court justices — ruled that the common law position placing employees and employers on an equal slate was operational.
They were deciding on a case in which two former Zuva Petroleum managers were challenging termination of their contracts by notice.
Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe representatives had by Friday night not given our Harare Bureau their views on the proposed amendments.
