Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) has engaged with the government over the casualisation of labour in the mining sector stating that most employers are making workers sign consecutive fixed-term contracts on end.
By Shantel Chisango
In a letter addressed to the government, Legal and Grievances Officer Mr. Tsaurai mentioned that casualisation of labour in the mining sector is due to the fact that the National Employment Council ( NEC) has not set limits on a number of fixed-term contracts, therefore employees end up working for several years but being made to sign fixed-term contracts.
Section 12( 3a) of the Labour Act states that an employee engaged on the basis of a casual contract is deemed to have become an employee on a contract of employment without limit of time on the day that his or her period of engagement with a particular employer exceeds a total of six weeks in any four consecutive months. He added that fixed-term contracts are mostly for temporary work or seasonal work, but the mining sector is these contracts by engaging workers on short term contracts, thereby destroying job security.
Tsauri further said that when they approached NEC last year on 10 December concerning this matter, they were not attended to.
ZDAMWU also urged the government to exercise its power by attending to this matter as soon as possible since NEC has not been helpful due to the fact that its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is outdated.
NEC is a statutory body established in terms of Section 57 of the Labour Act [chapter 28:01]. It comprises a registered employers’ organization namely the Federation of Master Printers of Zimbabwe which advances employers’ rights and interests and the Zimbabwe Graphical Workers Union, a registered trade Union that advances the rights and interests of the employees in the Printing, Packaging and Newspaper Industry.
ZDAMWU is an organisation that helps in addressing challenges being faced by retired and current workers in the mining sector in Zimbabwe.