THE Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) and labour have written a letter to the government registering their displeasure over the termination of national employment councils (NECs) in the country by the court, businessdigest can reveal.
The labour market was recently thrown into a confusion following a court order rendering all NECs illegal.
The matter was triggered by a court judgment delivered by Justice Moya-Matshanga in the DGL Investments Number 5 Private Limited v Martin & 14 Others LC/MT/70/23 case.
In his opening remarks at the Emcoz annual congress held in Kariba this week, the organisation’s president Demos Mbauya said the abolishment of NECs will spell disaster to the labour relations in the country.
“On mainstream gender and employment, we appreciate the inclusion of gender in the labour laws following the promulgation of the labour amendment act in July of this year. The legislation presents both positives and challenges,” he said.
“As social partners, we must engage in discussions on crucial issues such as termination of contracts, retrenchments and the status of employment councils following a recent labour judgment nullifying their existence.
“In fact, over the last few days, we've been talking to labour regarding the issue of the court judgment on employment councils.”
He added: “We think that this judgment, we know that there has been an appeal, but if adopted as is, will paralyze and terminate the existence of the employment councils, which will be a disaster to the labour relations in our country.
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“So, we have jointly (business and labour) authored a letter to the Minister of Labour, highlighting our concerns. We would like to propose a tripartite approach in resolving this issue
Mbauya said until the matter has been finalised in the Supreme Court, the status quo should continue.
“Until then, we expect the status quo to prevail and we urge the Ministry of Labour to communicate to try to avoid some confusion. We need to have a conversation and make sure that we don't preside over the decimation of employment councils, which have been a pillar of social dialogue,” he said.
“We are committed to meaningful social dialogue. We are social partners with equal rights, the right to be consulted before policy pronouncements and not after the event.”
The president said business member organisations (BMOs) should refrain from operating in silos and speak with one voice in all policy making forums.
“We think that there is an opportunity for business organisations in Zimbabwe to speak with one voice and leverage the platform provided by Tripartite Negotiating Forum to engage social partners, labour and business.
“So, there's an opportunity for us to do that. So, Emcoz will continue to lead the conversations on BMOs coming together, speaking with one voice and approaching social partners as one entity.”
Labour lawyer Caleb Mucheche said employment councils are vital cogs in the labour dispute system.
“If the employment councils are paralysed, it means that the retrenchment board is going to be overwhelmed,” he said in a presentation made at the same event.
On the matter of higher levels of informality in the country, the Emcoz president encouraged the authorities to finalise the formalising strategy, adding that punitive measures will not work.
In a bid to promote formalisation, the government recently proposed that businesses must not deal with non-registered entities.
“We think that the government must take a broader view on formalisation and already it's contained in the formalisation strategy which was developed three years ago. So, we are urging the government to go back to the formalisation strategy,” he said.
“What typically works in an economy is where formalisation is being driven by incentives as opposed to punitive measures. We're encouraging and urging our government to go back to that strategy. We think that it contains a lot of practical tried and tested measures to drive formalization in our economy.”
The congress, which ended on Wednesday, was is running under the theme: Adapting to a changing landscape—towards sustainable economic and business growth.
It ended on Wednesday.
