Mutare City Council has fired three workers and demoted 19 others for allegedly participating in an industrial action recently.
Two of the fired workers, Baya Musa and James Lizwe, are members of Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers’ Union (ZUCWU). They were relieved of their duties together with another perceived ring leader Timothy Mavhiza.
They were found guilty of organising an illegal strike along with 12 other general hands and six nurses from the municipality‘s Infectious Disease Hospital who were demoted.
Musa, the executive member of ZUCWU, dismissed the move by the council as a non-event and vowed to fight the decision.
The group accused council of owing over 1 200 workers a total of $550 000 in unpaid bonuses for last year.
However, an official with the human resources department accused the workers of flouting labour laws.
“The three were dismissed for organising and participating in an illegal strike action. It was discovered that their action was even outside the mandate of their union of affiliation which is the ZUCWU,” he said.
He said the six nurses who participated in the illegal job action were demoted by a grade each and $280 will be deducted from their salaries for the next 12 months and the general hands’ monthly $100 grocery allowances were suspended for six months.
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Fifty council workers downed tools sometime in March and marched to the civic centre demanding bonuses and other outstanding benefits.
Acting Mutare mayor George Jerison said at the time: “We have an agreed plan to pay their bonuses by end of May.
“It’s just a few workers who are trying to cause confusion here and no one should take them seriously because they are leading an illegal strike.”
