GWERU — More than 1 000 workers at Bata Shoe Company in the Midlands capital are set to benefit from a housing scheme organised by their union.
Report by Stephen Chadenga Own Correspondent
Isaac Wandira, Gweru branch chairperson of the Zimbabwe Shoe and Leather Workers’ Union, told NewsDay yesterday the scheme was mooted in 2010 following observations that the majority of the company’s employees did not own houses.
He said the subscription-based housing scheme to be known as Bata Employees Housing Scheme would see workers allocated residential stands measuring between 200m2 and 600m2 on a farm adjacent to Mkoba high-density suburb.
“We started this idea in 2010 and by March 2012 about 1 000 employees had already subscribed,” Wandira said.
Meanwhile, close to 460 workers unlawfully dismissed by the company in 2001 are still to know their fate as the case is pending at the Supreme Court.
In 2005, the workers won their case after the retrenchment board asked the National Employment Council (NEC) to deal with the matter.
NEC ruled in favour of employees, but the Bata management appealed and won against the ruling at the Labour Court, prompting the workers to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
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Management later filed opposing papers to the appeal.
