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The announcement that Government was moving in to restore Workers’ Day commemorations is a terrible indictment on the country’s labour movement. Leaders of the labour movement appear to have lost sight of their core mandate as they are preoccupied with politics rather than fighting for workers’ rights. Once upon a time the labour movement was worker-oriented and demonstrated this through measures like annual cost of living adjustments. Minimum wages were set instead of the current situation where employers have become dictators and employees left completely vulnerable.

Now labour unions seem to be struggling for their very survival amid reports that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is bankrupt and may have to close shop. Last year when there were mass dismissals of workers triggered by a Supreme Court ruling on three months notices, local trade unions could not even compile a correct figure of how many workers were affected and merely regurgitated unsubstantiated numbers.

It was left to employer organisations to give out figures of the sacked workers. Obviously trade unions have been handicapped by the country’s low levels of the formally employed. This has decimated membership and thus subscriptions. But the trade unions should have adjusted to the times and migrated into the informal sectors where there are many workers. Just like the employers who employ their members must adapt or die, the trade union leaders must also adjust to the prevailing circumstances.

It has been stated repeatedly that most small and medium enterprises are not registered and this naturally leads to the conclusion that the workers re not formalised employees. They lack access to the most basic employee benefit schemes like National Social Security Authority pension scheme as well as health, disability and funeral cover.

Wages, salaries, working hours, proper equipment and clothing and safety measures are dependent on the SME owner’s whim. Driving around Harare one can see many workers without gumboots, gloves and work-suits openly engaged at some constructions sites. The labour movements should be alerting NSSA of such happenings and forcing compliance among employers, even if they are unregistered SMEs.

The informal sector workers desperately need heroes to champion their cause. Innovative labour movements with the worker at heart would have come up with associations to cater for the gap while working with the SME owners to lobby government for viable tax regimes and other incentives to encourage registration and formalisation of operations.

Instead the trade unions have become sources of rhetoric and little action, thought leadership and membership service. It would appear that they are there only to provide publicity platforms for a few individuals with little or no attention paid to members’ needs. The political rants have resulted in workers shunning May Day celebrations.

These events should be about practical bread and butter issues, full stop. The labour movements should use the day for an honest critical analysis of their achievements in the preceding year, challenges and the way forward. The leaders must be able to look their constituents in the eye and say this is what we put on the table in the past 12 months then give workers time to voice their satisfaction, concerns and visions.

While it would be simplistic to expect the labour movement to divorce itself from politics, workers have a legitimate expectation of having their welfare put first. The Congress of South African Trade Unions has demonstrated that this is possible. For long COSATU was in a Tripartite Alliance with the ruling African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, but the labour movement still retained its teeth.

Government is an employer and regulator and it is too much to expect it to take on the role of labour bodies as well. Workers must use this May Day to take back their representation from selfish wannabe politicians and revitalise the labour movement into an instrument of economic development and membership welfare.