The Sunday News
AFTER the Supreme Court ruling on 17 July that gave employers the right to terminate workers’ contracts at any time without offering them packages , provided that they were given three months notice, most companies went on an overdrive to fire workers. Suddenly printing machines in bosses’ offices worked overtime printing the termination letters. Estimates show that more than 25 000 employees were fired. Workers and their unions had to watch helplessly. They could not do anything simply because companies were applying a law which had been plainly explained by the Supreme Court.
Laws and rules in nature are supposed to be followed whether at family, country or international level. That is why there are institutions too that are supposed to monitor and ensure that the country’s laws are followed correctly. If anything, the firing of workers, according to the law, demonstrated that Zimbabwe was among those countries which follow and implement its laws religiously. Even President Mugabe, in spite of pressure from workers, resisted the call to invoke the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures Act) to stop the termination of contracts.
He knew that although that could have been a popular decision, detractors would have taken advantage of that to once again demonise him and the country in general. It is common knowledge now that there are some people and organisations whose only mandate is to wait for anything to happen in Zimbabwe so that they could say negative things about the country. One sure thing that was going to come out had President Mugabe invoked the Temporary Measures Act was this mantra about the country not respecting investors and the rule of law in general. Obviously this was going to be further amplified to say that is why the country is failing to attract more investors and all sorts of propaganda.
Zimbabwe, like a country which respects its people and its laws, allowed due process to take place. A new Labour Amendment Bill was crafted. It was debated among stakeholders and finally allowed to go through the mill of the country’s parliament. There, it was debated again, some raised concerns, some supported it and this was all a normal process when a law is being formulated in Zimbabwe. Those are some of the tenets of democracy. After the debate in our two August houses, the Minister responsible took it to President Mugabe so that he could sign it into law. Again President Mugabe, after consulting and using his own wisdom, signed the bill into law on Wednesday. Basically this is how all the laws in this country are formulated.
And today, whether we agree or not agree with what is in the law, we have an amended Labour Law, which everyone must follow. It is just like any other laws in the country. It does not necessarily mean everyone agrees with it but the fact that it is a law is enough to make everyone follow its dictates. When workers were being fired using the Supreme Court ruling, industry never complained. Workers complained but still could not do anything because a law was simply being applied. Those who were affected just received their letters of termination and went home. We never heard of any who tried to bulldoze their way back to work because they knew that the law had been applied. Why is industry complaining now when a law is also being applied?
Their biggest concern is over Clause 5 which states that employees dismissed since 17 July must be paid packages equivalent to two weeks wages for every year served. The biggest catch is the fact that the employers must pay up no later than the date when the notice of termination takes effect. But all this grumbling by employers exposes the double standards some industrialists have always exhibited over the years. The business sector always wants to get the large end of the stick. It is always about them and not about anyone else. It is only the business sector which is suffering and anyone else does not matter.
In all their meetings, have they considered what has been the fate of those 25 000 workers who are now out of jobs. Some of these workers had served them loyally for more than 30 years. Do they even think twice on the situation and the pain they are going through now? Workers are important too in the production chain so they must be valued. When they were firing the workers, they never told the nation about what they thought some of those workers would feel. In all honesty, business got a better deal from the Amended Labour Law. In the past most retrenchment packages were expensive to companies. The packages would be paid at a minimum of one month’s salary for every year served plus a host of other sub-packages which were costly.
Government has tried its bit and at least come up with a law which under prevailing conditions is a win-win for both parties. The worker goes home with something although still not enough while the employer does not have to break the bank to meet the retrenched worker’s demands. That is called managing the situation and fairly speaking this amended law has done just that. This rhetoric that employers think that they more important or rather know it all is bad. Today they even want to bring the issue of the Zim dollar era as if they were the only ones who were affected. Again Government has come up with a law which demonetised the same Zim dollar so why would business want to all of a sudden sound technical and educated and try to bring it now.
During that time, in all fairness workers were working for free and as much as business was also facing problems they were across the board. It was not a problem which affected companies only but everyone. Workers lost their earnings during the same time. They lost their pensions. Will business have the answer if workers also turn the tables and demand their proper dues for the “free” labour they offered during the difficult times. Business must just grab the amended Labour Act, read it and like any other law abiding organisation, start working knowing there is a law at play. In other words, Zimbabwe now has a new Amended Labour Law and anyone who does not follow the law will be liable to prosecution.
