The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Friday, July 21, 1995 — Workers at Portland Cement, near Bulawayo, yesterday morning downed their tools to press for the resignation of the works manager at the factory whom they accuse of dictatorial policies.

The deputy secretary general of the Cement, Lime and Allied Workers’ Union, Cde Moses Ngondo said the industrial action had been sparked off by the works manager’s victimisation of workers’ representatives.

He said a worker had been acquitted for an alleged offence in accordance with the company’s code of conduct but the works manager wanted the case to be heard for the second time, at the insistence of his wife. The workers’ committee members and trade unionists refused to approve the second hearing. They were subsequently charged with insubordination.

Cde Ngondo said: “The next industrial action will involve all the workers in the company. If the works manager does not leave, the whole cement industry will come to a standstill. He must be suspended to facilitate investigations. The management is forcing us to go on strike. This is a Rhodesian-era strike,”| he said.

The workers said they were not satisfied with the manner in which the works manager was handling the company’s code of conduct as they alleged that he was victimising workers at will for no reasons. They further charged that his wife, who is employed by the same company, was interfering with decisions made in the company and she was the main culprit behind the victimisation of workers. ”People can no longer laugh when she passes as she says they will be laughing at her. A toilet door had to be shifted in the administration block to suit the wife because she claimed that she was laughed at every time she went into the toilet,” Cde Ngondo said. He said it was now common practice at the company for people to get final written notices for minor notices for minor offences like “laughing at the manager’s wife”.