THE past few weeks have seen many catching a cold as temperatures dropped. For 25-year-old Paul Gwizo, the onset of winter has not only meant facing long hours exposed to the chilling weather trying to eke out a living.
Report by Victoria Mtomba
Gwizo, like most Africans, has an extended family and the falling temperatures will threaten his source of livelihood. As an ice-cream vendor paid on commission by a local manufacturing company, the next three months will result in a significant cut of his earnings.
“Life is difficult for me. I sometimes fail to buy even a pair of trousers as the money I get is very little. Sometimes I spend the whole day without eating anything due to cash constraints,” Gwizo said.
“The US dollar worked for the first two years (of dollarisation), but from 2011 to 2013 things started getting back to the Zimbabwe dollar era. Money is not available and people are not able to buy ice-cream as they used to do in 2009.”
He says unlike on a good, shiny summer day where he sells ice-cream worth $30, the winter season would be painful for him. He sells ice-cream in the central business district of the capital.
Gwizo purchases the ice-cream from a local ice producer in Westgate and sells it on commission. He sells the ice-cream at five rand each.
“I spend $6 every day for transport as I commute from Glen View to town, town to Westgate, Westgate to town. That means I require at least $36 for transport every week, translating into $144 per month.
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I pay $140 for rent and utilities,” he said.
As Zimbabwe celebrates Workers’ Day together with the rest of the world, many workers continue to toil each day hoping for a shiny day. Four years since the formation of the coalition government, the workers’ story is yet to transform from despair to hope.
Workers in Zimbabwe, whom government statistics state that they earn an average of $300 monthly, have now resorted to moonlighting and commodity broking to improve their livelihoods.
With companies closing daily on the back of depressed capacity utilisation, the majority of economically active citizens are now turning to the informal sector. Independent statistics show that at least 70% of the economy is informalised.
The consumer basket for a family of six is at $573,22 monthly yet many workers in the country earn far less than that.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, the food poverty datum line for one person as at February 2013 stood at $35, while the total consumption poverty datum line was $107.
Ishmael Madzivire, a 27-year-old security guard in Harare, earns $220. Madzivire takes home $200 after deductions for funeral policy and others.
He pays $85 for his monthly rentals, grocery $50 and spends $40 for transport monthly. He works for 12 hours from Wednesday to Sunday.
“Although things are difficult, it’s better because my family has somewhere to put up and have some food to eat,” he said.
Madzivire said he started working for the security company in 2010 when he was paid $150.
He doesn’t have any benefits from the company apart from the transport that he gets from town to Newlands where he works.
“I have a child who is three years old. I am unable to send her to pre-school and next year would be difficult for me as I want her to go to crèche,” Madzivire said.
He complements his meagre salary by working as a barber and gets a 35% commission on every $1.
A shop assistant at Gulf Complex, Harare, Lovemore Mukohwa said he is paid $320 by his Chinese employer.
“I used to rent two rooms in Budiriro, but I am now using one room as the rentals are expensive at $80 per room. I have two children, the eldest is five years old and the youngest is about a year old. I have sent my eldest child to attend pre-school in Chiendambuya, Manicaland, where it costs $20 per term,” he said.
Mukohwa says life is difficult for him as he pays close to $40 for utilities and is the breadwinner for his family.
He said the Chinese pays them a monthly bonus of $20 every month if no cases of theft are recorded. Employee salaries would be deducted in the event of theft.
“Sometimes wives will think that we are spending the money on other women because the money is never enough. I have nothing to celebrate this year for the Workers’ Day,” he said.
He said life had changed very much since the adoption of the multi-currency system as workers were now able to buy goods at stable prices and could plan ahead.
Thelma Makumbe, a mother of one, who works as a shop assistant at the Gulf Complex, earns $200. She said every day the shop owner gives her $1 for lunch and another $1 for transport.
Makumbe has been working at the shop for three years and has been able to stay afloat through selling goods that she imports from South Africa through an intermediator.
“Most workers are getting salaries that are not enough, I am sure about 90% of workers are struggling. There is need for improvement of workers’ conditions and salaries. The money I get is not enough, but I complement with the reselling business,” she said.
She says the business environment has changed a great deal as products are always available if one has the money unlike during the Zimbabwean dollar era when people had the money, but there were no goods to buy.
What is May Day?
INTERNATIONAL Workers’ Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour movement. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other countries.
Wikipedia
International Workers’ Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at them.
The police reacted by firing at the workers, killing dozens of demonstrators and several of their own officers.
“Reliable witnesses testified that all the pistol flashes came from the centre of the street, where the police were standing and none from the crowd. Moreover, initial newspaper reports made no mention of firing by civilians. A telegraph pole at the scene was filled with bullet holes, all coming from the direction of the police.”
In 1889, the first congress of the Second International meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests.
May Day was formally recognised as an annual event at the international second congress in 1891.
Subsequently, the May Day Riots of 1894 occurred. In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on “all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace”.
The congress made it “mandatory upon the proletarian organisations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers”.
In many countries, the working classes sought to make May Day an official holiday, and their efforts largely succeeded. May Day has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups. In some circles, bonfires are lit in commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs, usually at dawn.
May Day has been an important official holiday in countries such as the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union. May Day celebrations typically feature elaborate popular and military parades in these countries.
‘We must forge ahead despite bleak future’ AS Zimbabwe today joins the rest of the world in celebrating the Workers’ Day, most workers in the country are battling to survive due to the difficult economic environment punctuated by closure of companies, lack of meaningful local and foreign investment and the slow, but sure increase in the prices of basic commodities and services.
George Nkiwane (GN), the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), an umbrella body of over 30 workers’ unions, on Monday fielded questions from NewsDay Business Reporter Victoria Mtomba (ND) on the significance of Workers’ Day to the toiling Zimbabwean employee. Below are the excerpts.
ND: Is Workers’ Day worth celebrating in this country?
GN: Celebrating Workers’ Day is an annual event and it enables the working people to take stock of where they are coming from, look at where they are as well as planning for the future. Yes, it`s worth it for workers in Zimbabwe to join workers from other parts of the world in commemorating this day despite the difficulties that they are going through.
This phase that we are going through should inspire the working class to open up space for themselves by way of making politicians account for their decisions that led to Zimbabwe’s workers to be poor in a land of plenty.
ND: What is the plight of the workers?
GN: The majority of workers in Zimbabwe are working under and living in deplorable conditions. Some of them are subjected to harsh working environments where they do not have protective clothing, social security and are poorly remunerated. There is no job security anymore as some companies are continuing to downsize while others are closing down completely. The future is bleak for the Zimbabwean worker, but a way out has to be found and this can only be done when we sit down and plan together.
ND: The inclusive government seems to have failed to act on the issue of workers’ salaries. Do you feel labour-based movements and parties like the MDC-T have betrayed the workers by not doing anything on that score?
GN: The inclusive government has not only failed to act on the issue of salaries, but also on the issue of the working conditions and employment creation.
It’s not that the labour movement is not doing anything, but it is because the people of Zimbabwe are not doing what they are supposed to do, particularly on the political front.
Unless and until we make our politics right, we will not get the living wage that we have always been fighting for. If anything, the labour movement is the only voice of reason that has always been fighting against all forms of injustices, be it social, political, legal or economic.
As to whether the MDC betrayed the workers or not, for us we are looking at the failures of the government of national unity although admittedly, yes, the party has its portion of blame within that marriage of convenience.
ND: You (ZCTU) have been accused of abandoning workers for politics, what is your take?
GN: The ZCTU or its leadership has no political ambitions, but we have an interest in what will be going on in the political arena because it affects the workers. We will never abandon the workers because their representation both economically and politically is within our mandate.
This accusation has always been levelled against the ZCTU from 1988 when it declared its independence from Zanu PF, so there is nothing new. I must also make it clear to Zimbabweans that we will continue to participate actively in the political affairs of our country and we will not be subjects as long as political decisions do affect our lives.
ND: Your organisation used to be militant and organising successful mass stay-aways like the 1997/8 one, but now you have gone quiet. Is it that you are now overwhelmed with political issues more than workers’ issues?
GN: With an unemployment rate of over 90% it is very difficult to employ the same strategies as those of the late 1990s, the situation was better economically compared to the period that we are in.
We have not gone quiet, if anything, we are working tirelessly in terms of offering alternative development paradigms. If one was to look at the recent past Budget by Finance minister (Tendai Biti), then there will be an appreciation of the labour movement’s effort. We are currently popularising our development model through a book titled Beyond the Enclave, towards a pro-poor shared vision.
We are not overwhelmed by political issues to the detriment of workers’ issues, not at all. That militancy is still there, but we are currently going through what we call remobilisation of the democratic base with a view to changing the way we have been doing things by employing effective strategies.
ND: How have you represented workers’ interests through collective bargaining this year?
GN: Collective bargaining is done by National Employment Councils, these are sector-based, therefore, the ZCTU is not involved at that level. However, the reports that we are receiving are not pleasing as the majority of negotiations end in dispute, thereby prejudicing the workers. Some workers have had no salary increase for over two years now.
If we had a functional National Tripartite Forum, this is where these challenges would be discussed, but it’s unfortunate we don’t have it. It is our prayer that our engagement with the relevant authorities will yield the desired results with regard to coming up with a strong institute of social dialogue.
ND: How are you encouraging workers to remain calm in the face of a serious liquidity crunch in the country. Is it because you have accepted the situation as normal?
GN: This liquidity crunch is a global phenomenon and with our fragile economy, we have to endure the effects of globalisation. We have not accepted the situation as normal and in this regard we are engaging various stakeholders with a view to deal with the challenges. We have also been doing background work, including offering a solution through our book that I have alluded to earlier on.
ND: The current National Employment Council salary benchmarks have been questioned by workers as they are not economically adjusted. How many times do you negotiate for NEC benchmarks?
GN: As I indicated earlier on, each National Employment Council sets what they normally refer to as ground rules. This includes, among other issues, the period covered by negotiations, it may be six months, but the majority of NECs negotiate for a year. Salaries or rather NEC minimums will continue to be questioned by workers as long as they are not at poverty datum line level.
ND: Do NECs take into consideration inflation and profitability? To say company A has made so much profit, therefore, the salaries should be this much?
GN: Your question talks of variables that have to be looked at when carrying out wage or salary negotiations. But my experience has taught me that some of the employers do not provide the necessary and correct information, hence the main negotiations are then based on demand and offer basis.
