The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Friday, June 26, 1992 — The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions will continue to fight against the Labour Relations Amendment Bill by staging demonstrations and using all other means at its disposal, the president of the labour body, Mr Gibson Sibanda, said last night.

In a fiery and emotional speech delivered at a ZCTU meeting at Bulawayo City Hall which was filled to capacity, Mr Sibanda said: “The ZCTU will fight this Bill at all costs. All workers should be prepared to fight by whatever means. We just can’t sit and watch when they are killing the labour movement”.

Using some Ndebele sayings to describe the strained relationship between the labour relations between the labour body and the government, Mr Sibanda said the ZCTU and the authorities were now at crossroads.

“We will demonstrate, call for strikes and do everything possible to show that we do not want this Bill”, he said.

Mr Sibanda was now trying to enlist the support of the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe in its fight against the Bill as the Bill would also affect EMCOZ.

Next week the ZCTU will hold seminars simultaneously throughout the country to explain the provision of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill to its members so they know exactly what they are fighting against.

“We have to move fast because there is no time to lose. It is therefore more than ever important that workers unite and show their support by attending these seminars so that whatever action we take, they understand the reasons”.

The ZCTU is opposed to the Labour Relations Act because it claims it gives too much power to the Minister of Labour, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare. It also says the Bill will kill unions as it gives too much power to workers’ committees at the expense of unions.