Government approves new amendments to Labour laws Minister Mupfumira
Minister Mupfumira

Minister Mupfumira

Felex Share Senior Reporter—

Cabinet has approved the principles of the Bill seeking further amendments to the Labour Act to remove inconsistencies that have seen workers’ rights being violated by some employers.

The proposed amendments tackle contentious issues such as termination of contracts on notice, retrenchments, maternity leave and disciplinary procedures.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira yesterday said the proposed changes were a product of all the parties to the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) and were meant to bring sanity on the labour market.

TNF parties include Government, labour and employers.

“Cabinet in its last sitting of December 2016, approved the drafting of the Labour Amendment Bill,” Minister Mupfumira said. “This is because labour laws are dynamic and it is impossible to separate economic and labour. The current fluctuating economy requires constant adjustment of labour laws with the view to striking a balance ultimately.

“The approved labour law principles were necessitated by a number of challenges and they took into consideration the Constitution and ratified International Labour Conventions, inspired by international best practices. The amendments we last made in 2015 were fuelled by the massive terminations emanating from the Supreme Court ruling of 17 July 2015, which gave employers green light to terminate employment on notice. After that experience, the social partners showed a great spirit of unity and maturity, which contributed to the finalisation of approved principles.”

Government last year amended the Labour Act — albeit without wide consultations — in a bid to stem the arbitrary dismissal of workers on the strength of legal technicality that gave employers authority to dismiss employees on three months’ notice.

Thousands were fired after the Supreme Court ruling.

The arbitrary action saw employers’ representatives taking Government to court challenging various sections of the amended legislation including that which compels them to compensate workers dismissed on three months’ notice without a retrenchment package as permitted by a July 2015 Supreme Court ruling.

Business was also accusing Government of ignoring the concept of equality when the Labour Act was amended last year.

Minister Mupfumira said the amendments made in 2015 posed challenges to the administration of the retrenchment process. She said: “The Labour Amendment Act section 5 (3) (b) currently provides for automatic granting of exemption to an employer from paying the minimum retrenchment package, if the application for exemptions to the retrenchment Board is not heard within 14 days. This section is unfair to the employee(s) concerned as the exemption is granted without a fair hearing. Secondly, Labour Amendment No. 5 of 2015 resulted in two parallel dispute settlement systems posing serious bottlenecks to the extent that labour cases are piling up without resolution. The approved labour principles will rectify this anomaly through an efficient dispute settlement agreed to by both employers and employees.”

Minister Mupfumira said the country’s Constitution upheld the right to collective job action.

“The new labour law will remove excessive penalties, which hinder the workers from fully utilising this right, including decriminalisation of the same,” she said.

“The right to fully paid maternity leave is also enshrined in the labour law principles. Working women shall enjoy this right without restrictions as provided by the Constitution. Employment Councils have in the past operated without proper governance structures. The new labour law ushers in Governance structures to monitor and evaluate employment councils. These were agreed to after extensive debate between employer and employee representatives. Workers shall enjoy their right to organise with minimum interference from Government. Ultimately, the new law entails a sweeping up of the Labour Act to remove all inconsistencies.”

Modernising the country’s labour laws is among the targets set by President Mugabe under the 10-Point Plan for Economic Growth.

According to the Labour Act, employers who dismissed workers on the strength of the Supreme Court ruling are supposed to, among other things pay in retrospect two weeks’ salary for every year served .

Several private and State-linked firms have dismissed thousands of employees on the strength of this judgment, prompting Government to intervene.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey