The Sunday News
Panashe Marufu
For those of you unfamiliar with employment, it’s much akin to owning a cat — it takes you for granted and isn’t all that pleasant — but you get used to it. Subject to appropriate labour laws such as fair wages, reasonable working hours and the like, employment is a largely tolerable condition. Do away with such regulation, however — or rather, do away with the enforcement of such regulation — and employment swiftly devolves from something one might be tempted to enjoy, into something one must endure.
Like most modern states, Zimbabwe highly regulates its labour practices. In the last few weeks, for example, Government revised the salaries of civil servants, introduced Covid-19 allowances, and proposed new minimum wage regulations for domestic workers. In response, political pundits and the public alike have largely welcomed the changes — subject to the expected reservations, of course. However, without any intention to detract from public sector grievances, one notes with concern the general inattention paid towards the state of labour law enforcement in the context of the private or corporate sector.
Over the years, corporations and small businesses alike have been relatively immune to public (or legal) reproach despite a trend towards exploitative labour practices. Indeed, flagrant breaches of employment contracts by employers have become so commonplace, that workers increasingly regard written contractual terms as a mere formality. In practice, workers are often expected to submit to the whims of management. Frequently, breaches take the form of unilateral extensions of working hours, lack of overtime pay, chronic late payment of wages or outright non-payment, and other unfair practices — the combination of which may swiftly resemble enslavement.
Nevertheless, as with most abusive relationships, critics often fault the victim — in this case, the worker — after-all, labour law legislation provides workers with wide protections against unfair labour practices and makes provision for redress where warranted. In fact, many employers despair at the extent of employment law — its comprehensiveness a testament to its importance in society.
In Zimbabwe, labour law is principally tasked with public protection, proffering a host of rights to workers, who are inherently at a disadvantage in the context of employment relationships due to the workers’ diminished bargaining power.
More broadly, labour law creates a critical safeguard in capitalist cultures such as our own — in which profits are prioritised over people — paving the path for exploitation.
With that said, however, labour law falls short of ensuring these protections to the extent that it relies on a specific economic state of affairs in order to function as intended. In other words, labour law assumes a certain level of normalcy without which its vast protections swiftly erode. In times of economic crises as seen the world over during the Covid-19 pandemic and during periods of prolonged economic depression, employers are often emboldened to disregard labour regulations — taking advantage of the desperation of workers to retain their jobs.
In such cases, widespread unemployment results in high levels of competition in the job market, rendering most workers interchangeable in the eyes of their employer. Notably, such abuses are not unique to the corporate sector. Private individuals in Zimbabwe often hold a similar disregard for labour laws, particularly in the context of the employment of domestic workers — who are often paid well below minimum wage, with undefined working hours and few to no leave days.
Consequently, workers are treated as though they are disposable — with threats of replacement, combined with the fear of unemployment, and the risk of garnering a bad reputation in hiring circles — coerce the worker into turning a blind eye towards breaches of their employment contract and otherwise accepting unfair labour practices. In contrast, where the economic environment is relatively stable — with diverse employment opportunities and moderate levels of competition in the job market — workers are inherently empowered to advocate for stricter adherence to their rights.
Thus, the major failing of employment law in Zimbabwe is a lack of adequate enforcement. Workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse in times of economic decline and Government must explore measures which insulate the public against the downturn-related surges in exploitative labour practices.
Much like our police forces are charged with the day-to-day maintenance of safety and public order, labour practices — specifically in the context of economic decline — must be subjected to comparable standards of oversight.
Left unchecked, however, labour abuses in the private sector will continue to undermine Government authority, infringe upon the people’s fundamental rights, and inhibit economic growth by contributing towards the perpetuation of the economic conditions that promote poverty.
