WILLOWVALE Mazda Motor Industries (WMMI) workers have accused management of disregarding labour laws by referring a labour dispute to the retrenchment body without notifying them.
BY CHRISTPHER MAHOVE OWN CORRESPONDENT
The workers said WMMI breached the Labour Act chapter 28:01 by referring the issue of the company’s intended retrenchment of 101 employees to the board without notifying the affected workers or their representatives.
The National Union for the Metal and Allied Industries of Zimbabwe (NUMAIZ), which is representing the workers, has written to the chairman of the Retrenchment Board Francis Mafuratidze raising concern in the manner the company was dealing with the matter.
“Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries (Pvt) Ltd has referred the matter to the Retrenchment Board without following procedures laid down by the Section 12C of the Labour Act, which includes notifying the concerned employees and attempting to secure agreement between the concerned parties before referring the matter to retrenchment board,” read the letter dated March 7, 2014.
The letter was signed by NUMAIZ general-secretary, Henry Tarumbira.
Tarumbira said the works council only heard of the submission of the documents through the rumour mill, adding that if it was true, then the documents were not properly brought before the retrenchment board. NUMAIZ deputy general-secretary, Stephen Dhliwayo said the union was in the dark on which figures the employers were going to use to calculate the packages as NEC (National Employment Council) had not negotiated salaries since 2009.
“The employers’ association has been refusing to negotiate and has even unilaterally applied to the Registrar to have NEC for the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry disbanded,” he said. WMMI human resources manager Canaan Samkange could not be reached for comment yesterday. A source, who sits on the retrenchment board, however, said the dispute was likely to be referred back after the parties presented oral evidence.
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“The parties will be called to present their oral submissions, but the case will have to be referred back to the parties to agree because we would need to have the full list of retrenchees, proof that each retrenchee got a notice to retrench as well as the works council,” he said.
