Revive TNF to tackle high labour costs: ZNCC

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THE ZIMBABWE National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) is lobbying the government and labour to reintroduce the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF), warning of more company closures triggered by unsustainable wage bills.

THE ZIMBABWE National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) is lobbying the government and labour to reintroduce the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF), warning of more company closures triggered by unsustainable wage bills.

High labour costs were affecting the pricing of local commodities, making them vulnerable to cheap imports, ZNCC president Hlanganiso Matangaidze said.

TNF, a social dialogue platform that brings together the government, business and labour to negotiate over key socioeconomic matters, was formed in 1998, but has been redundant in recent years. Matangaidze said its revival would help social partners grasp the gravity of the problems besetting industry.

“The minimum wage requirement is not supportive of productivity since workers are rewarded on the basis of attendance for work rather than on what they contributed towards production,” he said, and proposed amendments to labour laws to take into account productivity-based remuneration.

“Moreover, most industries are operating with out-dated and high energy consuming machinery that are more than 40 years old. So the cost base is already high,” he said.

Meanwhile, Parliament is expected to move a motion to revive the social dialogue between the government, labour and business on the back of wage pressures and an underperforming economy.

The motion is being supported by Mberengwa ast legislator Makhosini Hlongwane.

– The Source