1 May 2024
PTUZ Theme: Workers in Zimbabwe Unite, Organise and Fight against Unjust Salaries and Conditions of Service
Ptuz joins workers in Zimbabwe in particular, and across the globe in general, in remembering Workers’ Struggles from the late 19th century to the present. Poor salaries and atrocious conditions of service, increase of basic commodities, ignoring of the urgent need for proper industrial relations machinery by government/employers, aggravation of the plight of workers by droughts have always fueled industrial disharmony in Zimbabwe since the colonial period. Our current conditions are no exception, more so considering the effects of the zigorised economy, and acidic, rigid, arid, parochial and educationally riddled and ill-conceived Heritage curricula.
While today we mourn the demise of teachers in Zimbabwe in particular, and all workers in general, from grace to grass with monotonous regularity under the auspices of the Second Republic, we want to reiterate our long held view that the darkest hour is just before dawn. We, therefore, urge workers in Zimbabwe to navigate across the current challenges, unite, organise and fight for better salaries and conditions of service.
The issue of better salaries and decent work agenda can never be surrendered to the employer, even at the last moment of possible defeat. Government workers, particularly teachers, deserve a basic salary of US$540, housing allowance of US$300, transport allowance of US$150, education allowance of US$150 per month, and other allowances in line with duties and responsibilities of various professions.
While state sponsored fragmentation, deindustrialization, deproletarianisation, and political thuggery have reduced today’s union voices to a cat’s meow rather than the lion roar of 1945, 1948, 1955/6, 1996, and 1997/1998, we are confident as Ptuz that with unity of purpose, dexterity and ingenuity unions can move nearer to the movements that gave us Benjamin Burombo, Joshua Nkomo, and Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
On this important day to workers, we want to remind the government and all other employers that workers matter, and the best that they can do is to respect fair labour practice and pay workers well. By underpaying workers, government/employers is/are only generating industrial disharmony that affects productivity. Well paid workers are a recipe for dynamism, innovation and ingenuity that are critical components of the 21st century skills revolution and sustainable development.
What is needed in Zimbabwe at this juncture is a broad unity of workers that is politically, economically and socially conscious of the challenges in Zimbabwe, without being partisan or being an appendage of any political party. Workers throughout the world have always fought for what is right and just, and the current workers in Zimbabwe are no exception.
Venceremos
Dr Takavafira M. Zhou, Ptuz President
