Maravi

Retrogressive bargaining

Retrogressive bargaining
By Editor
Wednesday October 03, 2007 [04:00]

It is strange that management at Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka is proposing to downgrade workers’ conditions of service. We say it is strange because normally, employees everywhere expect to get improved conditions of service every year or whenever this is due. When they begin to get reduced or downgraded conditions of service, a wrong message is usually sent to employees and other interested parties.

There are reasons as to why workers’ conditions of service have to be reviewed upwards. Chief among them is workers’ motivation. Without doubt, workers’ morale is likely to go up whenever their salaries and conditions of service are reviewed upwards.

When workers’ morale increases, it is envisaged that even production is likely to correspondingly increase.

Human resource everywhere is a critical factor to good productivity in any industry. Employers who understand this fact usually go out of their way to invest in manpower. The investment in manpower is not only about improving conditions of service and salaries.

It also includes improving workers’ skills and even qualifications. Therefore, employers who understand these concepts better continually send their employees for all sorts of training and retraining either locally or abroad. And where this is the case, results show or speak for themselves.

Of course, issues of collective bargaining are between employees and the employer. If employees understand their employer’s financial difficulties, there will be nothing wrong with downgrading conditions of service because it will be done with the full approval of the employees. But where consensus on such an issue is absent, there is a recipe for industrial unrest.

This is exactly what is happening at Pamodzi Hotel because already management and the union have declared a dispute. And clearly, the workers are totally opposed to management’s proposal to downgrade or reduce their conditions of service.

We are aware that last week there were very heated meetings at the hotel between management and employees concerning the same issue.

As acting principal labour officer Kabaso Chola rightly observed, the idea of reducing terms and conditions of service for employees is rather retrogressive and might result in unwarranted disputes and demotivated workforce.

Downgrading employees’ conditions of service might not be the solution to whatever problems the hotel management is facing. In fact, they will be worsening these problems by taking this route.

There is no need to maintain the high numbers of employees who management cannot afford to look after. Instead of demotivating workers by retrogressive methods of downgrading their conditions of service, management should reduce the workforce by whatever acceptable means.

By saying this, we are not in any way trying to lecture management at the hotel on how best they should manage their employees. We are raising these issues because they are now becoming common in our country.

There are common complaints about most of our foreign investors who do not seem to have much respect for our labour laws. They don’t even prioritise workers’ welfare.

We are also raising these issues to draw the government’s attention. It seems that in some cases, our government is over-tolerating investors who are not considering the welfare of their employees.

We have not forgotten how former Southern Province minister Alice Simango was embarrassed by some Chinese investors who were reported to have been abusing employees.

These investors in the mining sector even had the guts to bar the minister from inspecting their premises in line with the provisions in our labour laws.

And instead of the minister taking charge of the situation, we saw her break down at the sight of employees who worked in the mine without protective clothing.

Up to now, we have not been told what has happened to these Chinese employers or investors.

Last week, we visited the same mine and we found our Zambian employees wearing Chinese ‘military’ uniforms on duty. This is unacceptable! We know that the law requires the employer to provide factory workers with appropriate protective clothing.

So why is our government quiet when some of our so-called investors allow their miners to wear slippers on duty?

The government must be seen to be implementing our labour laws without fear or favour. It cannot be denied that some of our investors are treated with kid gloves. They are over-protected. And that’s why they have the audacity to ignore the laws because they know that, after all, nothing will be done against them.

It is true that unemployment levels have reached very alarming levels in our country and our people are desperate for jobs. But this is no guarantee for employers to start abusing their workers. It should be remembered that both employees and employers have rights and obligations.

An employee is expected to put in his or her best while the employer is supposed to reasonably remunerate the employee. How can a demotivatated employee be expected to put in his best?

Labels: LABOUR, PAMODZI HOTEL

posted by MrK @ 4:16 AM