The Sunday News
Gabriel Masvora Economic Focus
LAST week Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating Workers Day – a special day to recognise the importance of human resources in the economic matrix of any country.In Zimbabwe, it used to be a big day, where workers took time together with their union leaders to reflect on the problems that they face and how to improve their conditions. It was also a day to celebrate their achievements.
Almost every worker would want to listen to what was known as the May Day message.
Some would congregate in stadiums across the country to celebrate the day.
You could feel that here was a constituency that was finding joy in what they represented.
Such events were marked with pomp and fanfare and in some cases feasting.
But for the majority of workers today, the day has just become another holiday on the calendar as many feel that it has lost its meaning.
The signs that the day was losing its meaning in Zimbabwe started more than a decade ago, when some leaders of the workers unions lost focus and misinterpreted the support they were receiving for championing workers’ rights to political power.
It is not a secret that Zimbabwe’s largest opposition political party – MDC – was formed from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions – a powerful body then that had managed to win the hearts of many workers.
The situation became tricky as alternative workers unions then also thought that they could not operate in isolation and began to align themselves to political parties following the ZCTU way.
It was a very difficult and unfair situation to the ordinary workers whose simple mission was just to do their jobs in the right manner and see their efforts being recognised at the end of the day.
After all work places all over the world are seen as universal and apolitical places which accommodate people according to their skills and not political affiliation.
But instead of behaving like simple workers whose main aim was to do their jobs and earn a decent salary, many were forced to join the political bandwagon.
Suddenly it was no longer a matter of working but of also making sure that you are aligned to certain political ideologies which they thought would protect their interests.
Unions became extended commissariats of political parties often forcing workers to align to certain political groupings.
It was now common to hear such overtones like “that company is MDC or Zanu-PF” simply because they were being under certain workers unions.
Workers were no longer seen as independent thinkers but pawns which can be used to get cheap political mileage.
Politicians as people whose survival depends on numbers were happy to jump in and all of a sudden most simple workers meetings became rallies.
As the cancer spread, it became apparent over the years that workers’ rights were being eroded.
Workers stopped seeing their problems in a pure labour way but as some sort of political game which needed a political solution.
It was not only the politicians who saw the gap, but employers quickly jumped in to exploit labour which was now losing its focus and seeing its problem not as a labour issue but a political one.
The employers knew that with workers shifting focus to politics, they could tighten screws to their advantage.
With workers unions fragmented and divided, the employers knew that employees were now weak and some even went further to play the political card threatening workers that they must know that some companies were linked to powerful politicians.
Today most employers are rejoicing because workers and their unions have gone off the radar on labour matters and instead of fighting for their rights have become weak and susceptible to all forms of abuse.
The situation was also compounded by the economic challenges that the country went through.
A number of companies started closing while some downsized. This also weakened the workers’ constituency.
Employers now had a large pool of the workforce to exploit and any dissenting voice was put at the top of the list of those that were being retrenched or fired.
Because of this, some workers simply decided to retreat into their shells, rarely challenging any unfair practices for fear of losing their jobs.
Worse still, some betrayed their colleagues, becoming ears and eyes of the employer by selling out to seek favours from the bosses.
In the past most companies would tell you that the most important asset at their organisations was human resources.
But this is no longer the case as many companies have downgraded the importance of workers on their priority list.
Workers are now being treated badly and employers know that with weak or virtually non-existent unions the employee has nowhere to seek recourse.
There are many abuses and unfair practices workers are subjected to every day at most companies but most of them are never addressed.
There are workers who lost their jobs many years ago, but have not received their pensions or packages.
There are workers who have gone for many months without being paid and instead of addressing the situation companies threaten them if they fail to report for duty. In fact there is a lot of free labour in many companies.
There are workers who are forced to work for nothing, or are being paid in something else other than the money they agreed on.
In fact almost every company has tales of worker abuses which are going on.
The employer knows the worker has nowhere to go or report. The employer knows that even if the case is reported nothing will happen.
In fact the employer knows that he can literally replace most of the workers within hours and recruit others without scratching an inch of his/her hair.
However, workers must sit down and start thinking whether this is the ideal situation they want to continue being subjected to.
They must decide whether to continue under this double dose of abuse from politicians and employers.
They must reflect on what it means to be a worker and what it means to even have a day set for them.
They must start distinguishing working from slavery and more importantly must know that it is neither the politician nor the employer who will champion their cause.
Politicians think in numbers and employers think in dollars and cents and rarely have time to think about the rights of workers.
Only workers know better about what environment they want to operate in and they have the right and powers to champion their cause and revive the spirit and significance of Workers Day.
