Dunlop workers get ultimatum

By The Southern Eye | Jul. 25, 2013

DUNLOP ZIMBABWE workers have reportedly been given 24 hours to end their two-week strike or face unspecified action.

Gamma Mudarikiri OWN CORRESPONDENT

Some workers, who spoke to Southern Eye Business yesterday, said management had informed them of a letter from the Labour ministry ordering them to return to work.

However, the workers vowed to press on with the job boycott until their demands were addressed by management.

“That letter is fake,” one of the workers’ representative said on condition of anonymity. “If it was from the Labour ministry, as workers, we should have received our own copy and the letter should have the signature of the minister or her deputy,” he added.

According to the letter, seen by Southern Eye, workers must appear before the Labour Court on July 29 for a ruling on the on-going strike.

The industrial action started on July 12 after Dunlop reportedly failed to honour a ruling from an arbitrator who had given the company a 14-day period to negotiate for a salary increase with workers. Low-paid workers at the firm earn a gross salary of $108 a month, but are now demanding at least $250.

Mbonisi Mkwananzi, the Dunlop human resources manager, said the company was not in a position to comment on the matter.