The Sunday News
THE Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions are set to meet this week and discuss challenges that are faced by both organisations, an official has said.
Speaking in Bulawayo last week EMCOZ vice-president Mr Josephat Kahwema said his organisation and ZCTU were set to have bipartite negotiations over a plethora of challenges facing the workers and employers.
“We have started bipartite negotiations with ZCTU and we are meeting next week to discuss how best we can solve the situation. We can only bail this country together and we need each other now more than ever before,” said Mr Kahwema during Workers Day commemorations held in the city last week.
He said the economic environment was affecting both the employers and the workers.
“We don’t need to point fingers at each other but we need to discuss and see where we are going wrong. Both employers and employees are in a tight situation where workers are not getting paid while the employers are also failing to pay due to various reasons,” said Mr Kahwema.
He said the challenges facing the local industry needed a holistic approach where all the stakeholders must sit down and come up with a concrete solution.
“The situation is going bad and it now requires us as employers and employees to work together,” said Mr Kahwema.
ZCTU Western Region chairman Mr Reason Ngwenya said the challenges facing workers had reached alarming levels as some were going for several months without pay.
“The workers are not getting their salaries while some are getting very low wages which cannot sustain them for a month and we would want EMCOZ to tell us why?” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said industries were closing down and there was a need to take urgent action.
“The Government must also attend to the plight of workers,” said Mr Ngwenya adding that people should also work hard to make Zimbabwe reclaim its economic status.
Most workers, not only in Bulawayo but countrywide, are struggling to make ends meet due to low salaries.
Most of them earn less than the poverty datum line pegged at around $506.
The plight of workers in Bulawayo was also worsened by the massive de-industrialisation that led to job losses.
