MORE than 100 Marvo Stationery Manufacturers workers in Bulawayo have gone for 11 months without pay.
LINDA CHINOBVA OWN CORRESPONDENT
A representative of the workers, Mbonisi Gumbo, said they last received their salaries in December 2012 and were struggling to make ends meet.
“The situation is very bad and it doesn’t look like it will get better any time soon,” Gumbo said.
“As a result of the non-payment, we are failing to make ends meet and have been surviving on handouts from friends and relatives,” he said.
He said the majority of Marvo workers do not own houses and have virtually become destitute because some have been kicked out for failing to pay rentals since they have not been paid for close to a year now.
Although some workers have opted for voluntary retrenchment leaving the company with a few employees, the situation has not improved as Marvo is still failing to pay those that remained.
They said although workers still have day and night shifts, the company continues to import finished products from neighbouring South Africa adding to its ballooning expenditure.
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The workers said their working environment was not conducive as they were forced to use dirty water in their operations.
“There is also no electricity as the company was disconnected by Zesa for non-payment.We have lost hope in ourselves and no longer know what to do. We appeal to the government to help us because our lives have become a misery,” a disgruntled worker said.
Marvo does not only owe its workers outstanding salaries but has also been failing to remit workers’ contributions to the National Social Security Authority as required by the law.
This leaves relatives of deceased former workers equally destitute.
Efforts to get a comment from Marvo managing director Saul Mashamba were fruitless as he was not reachable.
