The Labour Act will be further amended to incorporate input from trade unions and business, as tripartite negotiations on the future of workers dismissed on three-month notices since July 17, 2015 begin.

Minister Mupfumira

The Sunday Mail is reliably informed that talks to this end between Government, labour business could start as soon as this week.

The social partners will also consider a Tripartite Negotiating Forum Bill to regulate their interactions and foster greater cohesion between Government, business and labour.

Last week the executive and legislature expedited the Labour Amendment Bill to halt summary job terminations triggered by a July 17 Supreme Court ruling upholding common law practice allowing dismissal of workers via three-month notices.

As workers celebrated passage of the Bill, employers were largely apprehensive as they argued that the changes would precipitate rapid company liquidation and dissuade investment.

The Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe accused Government of flagrantly trampling tripartism by ignoring its recommendations on amendments.

The bone of contention is the Bill’s retrospective outlook, which will see all workers fired on notice since July 17 being paid one month’s salary for every two years of service.

The amendments were passed by Senate and the National Assembly and await Presidential assent to become law.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said it was, in fact, industry that had dragged its feet when invited to discuss the Bill.

It has also been reported that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions also initially snubbed Government’s enjoinder to discuss the matter of the spate of sackings.

Minister Mupfumira said the State went it alone to prevent further job losses and will now meet employers and trade unions to discuss further legal innovations.

“The TNF will resume normal sittings on Friday to consider, among other things, burning labour issues that have been very topical over the last few weeks. Critical agenda items will be the Draft TNF Bill, a law that will guide interactions among Government, business and labour.

“The meetings had been put on ice following the Supreme Court ruling of July 17. Another key agenda item will be the consideration of further amendments to the Labour Act. The process (of amending the law) is ongoing.”

On charges of unilateralism, Minister Mupfumira said, “Aware that we were dealing with an emergency, we called an emergency TNF meeting after having witnessed industry taking advantage of that (Supreme Court) ruling to fire workers at will.

“We wrote to all parties inviting them to meet, but business, it appeared, was unwilling to co-operate. In the first instance, they claimed they had other engagements on the dates we had set.

“On the second occasion, they claimed that the invitation had come at short notice. They argued they were yet to make relevant consultations. We believed they were doing this just to buy time while workers continued to lose their jobs.

“The situation had become untenable and as Government we had to move and not allow the situation to deteriorate any further. We went ahead and gazetted the Bill; that is when they wrote us saying they wanted to convene a meeting to discuss the Draft Bill.”

Responding to inquiries by The Sunday Mail, Emcoz president Mr Jack Murehwa said the organisation would engage its social partners and ruled out litigation once the Bill becomes law.

Emcoz comprises the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Mines, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, the Commercial Farmers’ Union and the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism.

Mr Murehwa said, “As Business, our focus is trying to persuade all stakeholders to adopt an approach that encourages current businesses to stay in business and grow, plus encouraging investors to put resources into creating new businesses.

“We believe all stakeholders are keen to see Zimbabwe working again. For that reason, possible litigation as an option has not been considered at all.”

CZI president Mr Busisa Moyo said some of their members were negotiating the way forward with the workers they had dismissed.

“Some companies within CZI are indeed negotiating with workers that were fired. We only have a few – not many,” he said, declining to comment further.

ZCTU secretary-general Mr Japhet Moyo confirmed the talks.

“We have been receiving reports about companies approaching some of our affiliate organisations seeking to negotiate possible payouts while others, we have heard, are offering to take some workers back.

“Most affiliates are, however, reluctant to disclose details of the negotiations out of fear that this may scuttle the negotiations. We understand, though, that some are already regretting their decision to fire their workers on notice as this exercise may turn out to be very expensive once the new law kicks in.”

On July 17, 2015 Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and four Supreme Court justices ruled that the common law position placing employers and employees at par was operational.

This meant in as much as workers could terminate their contracts by resigning after giving their employer three-month notices, employers could also terminate contracts by issuing three-month notices.

The ruling was in relation to a case in which two former Zuva Petroleum managers were challenging termination of their contracts on notice.

Several private and State-linked companies have dismissed employees based on this judgment, prompting Government to step in with Labour Act amendments. Government has itself said it will not reduce its wage bill via wholesale sacking of employees.

Clause 5 of the Labour Amendment Bill says those who lose jobs on contract termination are entitled to minimum retrenchment benefits that include a month’s salary for every two years served.

This will apply to both retrenchees in general and workers whose contracts were terminated on or after July 17, 2015; with employers required to pay up “no later than the date when the notice of termination of employment takes effect”.

Section 12(4a) prohibits employers from terminating an employment contract on notice unless such termination is in terms of an employment/model code.

Clause 18 reads, “Section 12 of this Act applies to every employee whose services were terminated on three months’ notice on or after the 17th July, 2015.”

The President, according to the Constitution, should assent to a Bill within 21 days of receiving it, and would have to return it to Parliament if he withholds his signature.

Apart from these amendments, the TNF Bill is expected to dominate proceedings when the three social partners meet.

The proposed law aims to legislate the TNF, which has existed since 1998 as a voluntary forum on a social dialogue platform bringing together Government, business and labour to discuss socio-economic issues.