Crisis Coalition slams deteriorating labour rights
Staff Reporter
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Chairperson CiZC, Peter Mutasa has slammed increasingly deteriorating labour rights amid calls for civil servants to resist the divide and rule tactics by the government and fight for the common good.
The calls come at a time when most civil servants are earning meager salaries and continue to live far below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
In a message to civil servants, Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) chairperson , Peter Mutasa slammed the government for its insincerity in as far as improving the welfare of its workers is concerned.
“We are witnessing unusual occurrences in the labour market. A massive devaluation of labour through repression, state terror tactics and debilitating neoliberalism.
“The magnitude of state terror towards labour that we have witnessed since the November 2017 coup is only paralleled to the colonial era. We saw the abduction of Peter Magombeyi when doctors dared the military junta and went on strike.
He said the dismissal of striking nurses and now soldiers visiting and threatening incapacitated teachers all points to revival of the colonial or apartheid industrial relations. In terms of wages, the majority of workers in Zimbabwe have been thrust into modern Call for workers to unite for the collective good slavery.
“The majority are earning below the Poverty Datum Line and many even below the Food Poverty Line. It now makes financial sense for a doctor, a teacher, a nurse and other public service workers to leave their office jobs and work as domestic or farm workers in South Africa,” said Mutasa.
He said Zimbabwean workers must have learnt from the past that it is not possible to fight successfully in individual sectors saying the regime will use draconian means to threaten, brutalise and dismiss the few workers.
“The problem workers face is not emanating from the labour market. It is a result of political decisions such as the brute austerity measures and currency debauchery. These cannot be cured through traditional labour market instruments like collective bargaining.
“ Trade unions need to mobilize workers for collective political action such as general strikes and other forms of protests. There is no other option for the impoverished workers of Zimbabwe. It is time for a General Strike,” he added.
