ZIMBABWE PHARMACEUTICAL (ZimPharm) company in Bulawayo on Tuesday fired nine workers after they refused to sign voluntary retrenchment letters preferring instead to take the company for arbitration.
BY SILAS NKALA
ZimPharm specialises in the manufacture of medicinal chemicals used in health institutions and laboratories.
In a letter dated July 21 and signed by the company’s general manager identified as T Mukhuhlane, the firm indicated that termination of the contracts was with immediate effect.
“We refer to subject of your employment contract. Kindly note that you are hereby given three months’ notice of termination of your contract of employment in terms of your contract as read with section 12 (4) of the Labour Act Chapter 28:01,” Mukhuhlane wrote.
“The company has opted to pay you cash in lieu of serving the notice period.
“If there are any benefits due to you in terms of the employment contract, they shall be paid accordingly.
“Upon being given this notice you are required to proceed to serve your notice from home.”
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The disgruntled workers said all employees who refused to go on voluntary retrenchment were dismissed.
“They wanted us to sign voluntary retrenchment letters and we refused, before we took the company for arbitration where we won the case,” one worker who asked to remain anonymous said.
“All those who refused to sign the letters were denied salaries and our dismissal is a continuation of our victimisation.
“They had degraded people out of the collective bargaining agreement and when we took the matter up for arbitration they victimised us.” The company allegedly forced workers to sign voluntary exit packages of between $2 000 and $3 000.
Workers said it was sad that management would prefer to violate workers’ rights, which employees had exercised.
The workers have since engaged the Zimbabwe Chemical, Plastics and Allied Workers’ Union Bulawayo regional organising secretary Rabseck Mutero, who confirmed the standoff between the company and the workers yesterday.
“The situation is bad in companies since the ruling made by the Supreme Court, as many workers continue to lose their work,” he said. He confirmed the matter would be taken to the Ministry of Labour for conciliation.
