Zim tops on workers’ rights violations

ZIMBABWE is among the top 10 worst violators of the rights of workers in an attempt to thwart trade unionism, the latest International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) global rights index for the year 2021 has shown.

The countries are said to have violated collective bargaining rights, increased surveillance of workers and undermined the right to privacy among other violations.

Other countries include Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Myanmar, the Philippines and Turkey.

The countries were also judged in terms of exploiting workers and withholding vital information about the spread of the COVID-19 virus in workplaces.

“In Zimbabwe, union leaders were prosecuted after workers took strike action to secure outstanding pandemic allowances,” the ITUC report read.

“Workers had no or restricted access to justice in 65% of countries, with severe cases reported in Belarus, Honduras, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe remained one of the most hostile countries in the world for trade unionists as Zanu PF, the ruling party, called the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the main trade union organisation in the country, a ‘terrorist organisation’.”

ITUC noted that there were violent attacks against workers during the general strikes organised between October 2018 and January 2019, resulting in 13 nurses being arrested for participating in a protest organised by the Zimbabwe Nurses Association in Harare and Bulawayo over salary disputes and inadequate personal protective equipment.

“Workers’ unions and protests, such as those by health workers, are routinely repressed in Zimbabwe,

one of the worst countries for working people. ZCTU leadership remained under constant harassment and surveillance by the police, and its president, Peter Mutasa, was placed on the most wanted persons list by the police. Strikes were severely repressed with arrests and dismissals,” the report read.

International shoe manufacturer, Bata, which has local operations, was adjudged as one of the worst offenders in violating the rights of workers across the globe.

Early this year, government threatened to enforce the no-work, no-pay policy for teachers who were not reporting for duty while protesting poor salaries.

In 2018, government fired 16 000 nurses who were on strike before reversing the decision and also threatened junior doctors for downing tools.