Zimbabwe Job Cuts Are A ‘Recipe For Arab Spring’, Style Uprising Warns Labour Union

ZIMBABWE’S beleaguered workers have appealed to President Robert Mugabe to invoke his powers to end more job losses as he prepares to amend the country’s harsh labour laws.

Speaking during a street demonstration in Harare’s CBD Saturday, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leaders rubbished the proposed labour amendment law saying it sought to perpetuate the exploitation of workers.

They insisted the law does nothing to free workers from capricious “capitalists” who are ensconced in top positions in both government and the judiciary.

In a petition to the public service ministry, the ZCTU demanded an end to “the madness by invoking Presidential Emergency Powers until the the new Labour Act is in place”.

Short of that, the ZCTU wants Public Service Minister Prisca Mupfumira to use her own powers under current laws to halt the jobs haemorrhage.

The labour group warned the country risked sliding into an untenable state of increased criminality among citizens and civil disobedience akin to the Arab Spring.

“This is a recipe for political instability as disgruntled workers will turn against their government for failure to protect them,” read the petition.

“The Arab Spring is such an example in which there was social unrest, particularly in Tunisia where the death of a vendor whom the state failed to protect sparked the unrest.”

Government says the proposed Labour Amendment Bill which has passed through both houses of assembly will to end untoward victimisation of ordinary workers by employers.

Law changes

The state further says its envisaged law will also carry on board, the concerns of struggling firms battling the effects of a comatose economy.

But ZCTU vice president Peter Mutasa told about a hundred placard-waving protesters Saturday afternoon that the Bill, contrary to its intended purposes, was an oppressive law.

“We will not read too much into a Bill which has been authored by businessmen in Cabinet, debated by businessmen in Parliament, a Bill that will further be interpreted by businessmen in the Supreme Court,” he said.

Speaking during the same occasion outside Mukwati building, ZCTU president George Nkiwane urged ordinary workers to resist state hegemony which has seen government sneak in a clause which empowers it to meddle in trade unions affairs.

“All along we erroneously thought change was going to come naturally, but it now seems we now have to rise and force the change ourselves,” said Nkiwane.

“It’s us the workers who are supposed to lead the change.”

Nkiwane said the state had baulked in its constitutional responsibilities to protect citizens but had turned a “security threat” to its own people.

The ZCTU boss said the labour Bill was anti-worker in that it allows employers leeway to escape paying retrenchment packages to workers, adding it will remain tough for poor employees to receive their dues.

More protests

ZCTU secretary general Japhet Moyo also weighed in, warning “the biggest employer”, government, that his organisation was planning more protests to demand fair labour practices.

“Government has joined the band wagon of chasing away workers without paying them benefits,” he said, adding, “So we are rolling these activities so that the authorities, the capitalists understand what we want.”

Meanwhile, ZCTU lawyers were forced to secure an early morning High Court injunction to reverse an earlier police ban on the street march.

The law enforcers were adamant the protest march was uncalled for as Parliament was in fact in the process of addressing their concerns.

Police earlier this month disrupted the workers group’s first march and briefly held trade union leaders and journalists covering the event.

Saturday’s march by the ZCTU was also attended by labour lawyer Munyaradzi Gwisai and Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the rival COZITU.

The workers however failed to hand their petition to the authorities as they found Mukwati Building deserted. source-newzimbabwe