By Lloyd Takawira
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has bemoaned the deteriorating state of workers welfare under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
The mother body described supporting the removal of former President Mugabe from power as a “wrong turn”.
According to ZCTU under the second republic, standards of living and working conditions for workers have been on a downward spiral as government is unwilling to listen to workers concerns.
In its May Day commemoration statement ZCTU blasted the government for it’s ‘insincerity’ and snubbing of workers.
International Workers Day coincides with ZCTU’s anniversary themed ‘ZCTU @40, Fighting for Political, Economic and Social Justice in Zimbabwe’.
“The ZCTU has built a brand around fighting for political, economic and social justice and shall continue in that direction regardless of manmade or natural challenges. The political, economic and social situation in this country has not been friendly to the worker since the eighties. It has become worse ever since the November 2017 coup,” reads the statement.
The labor body said the new dispensation has been characterized by human rights violations.
“Comrades and friends, we took a wrong turn in November 2017 when we supported the coup hoping that there will be progress. We jumped from the frying pan right into the fire and we have no one else to rescue us than ourselves. Today we are under a de facto military rule. All our constitutional rights and freedoms are suspended. We no longer enjoy the fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of association, right to be free from torture and degrading treatment, right to liberty and security of persons and many other such rights.”
The workers body took a swipe at the tripitite negotiating forum for siding with government instead of the worker .
“All our socio economic rights are violated daily. We no longer lead dignified lives as we are deprived of our socio-economic rights. The right to education, access to health, adequate housing, fair wages and many others have all been violated.
“We call for restoration of our USD salaries to August 2018 figures. That the minimum wage be raised to the Poverty Datum Line.”
ZCTU said that over 83% of the country’s population is unable to buy basics .
“Over 83% of urban dwellers are not able to buy basic foods like bread, cooking oil and mealie meal. Over 70% are in poverty and 40% in extreme poverty. The majority in poverty are workers whose salaries have been eroded due to fascist government policies. The set minimum wage is still at ZWL$2 500.00 against a Poverty Datum Line of ZWL28 362. ,” said ZCTU.
The labor rights organization said that despite the hardships that the worker has endured in Zimbabwe, the draw inspiration from the past fighters of workers rights such as Benjamin Burombo , Masoctha Ndlovu and Morgan Tsvangirayi among others.
“The theme therefore calls us to reflect and look back at how we fought against a brutal regime of Robert Mugabe. Despite the brutality and ruthlessness of the state, the workers under the ZCTU led the struggle for civic and political rights as well as demand for socio-economic rights. We never gave in to the dictator.
“As we are under a more entrenched and even more ruthless dictatorship, the theme calls us to learn from our past and draw our inspiration from those who fought for the gains that we are losing daily. On this we need to go back as far as the prior independence era.
“We must learn from Morgan Tsvangirai, Gibson Sibanda, Getrude Mthombeni and others. How they endured the brutality and fought for freedom, equality and justice. During their time, they resisted the one party state agenda, demanded and eventually got a progressive Constitution. It was through their fight that workers got a progressive Labour Act that promoted. Their resilience,consciousness and courage must educate and inspire us.”
The labor body called for what they called ” a United Front” led by workers to fight for workers concerns.
“The only solution is a United Front led by workers that must wage a struggle against both repression and neoliberalism leading to restoration of the constitutional democracy. The United Front must resist and fight against the neoliberal policies and ideologies of the ruling class and other cronies. The working class including formally and informally employed workers, self employed workers and peasants whose toil is funding luxurious lifestyles of the ruling elites and their cronies must unite and peacefully resist.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union was formed in 1981 to advance the concerns of the workers.
