NINE workers fired by the Zimbabwe Pharmaceutical (ZimPharm) company following the Supreme Court’s landmark labour ruling in July this year, have appealed to the Labour ministry and First Lady Grace Mugabe, to intervene and help them get their severance packages.
BY SILAS NKALA
The affected workers said after their contracts were terminated, management at the firm located in Bulawayo pledged to pay them terminal benefits, but had become evasive.
“We even checked for our pensions with the MINERVA Benefits Consulting, a pensions company, and we were told that the company was not remitting our pensions to the scheme,” one former employee said.
“We appeal to the Ministry of Labour and the First Lady [Grace Mugabe] to assist us get our packages because our families are struggling to survive now.”
But company general manager Tavengwa Mukhuhlane yesterday accused the former workers of stealing records of their case from the Registry of High Court.
He also said the retrenchees had fraudulently obtained a writ of execution to attach company property worth $90 000, which has been halted through the courts.
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He said the company had since lodged a complaint with the High Court Registry and filed a criminal report with the police against the former workers.
“We bought the company from MedTech. When we took over in 2013, many workers, including these fired ones, were on leave. MedTech had offered packages to some and they refused to sign the retrenchments,” Mukhuhlane said.
“These guys had previous issues with MedTech in court. MedTech paid them.”
Mukhuhlane said the workers later demanded to be paid for leave days they had accrued at MedTech, but the company argued that there was no paperwork detailing their status.
“We said MedTech should take its liability. They took the matter to the arbitrator, who later awarded them. We appealed against the award and later came the Supreme Court ruling of July 17. We released 10 workers. We paid their three months’ salaries and they are stranded because they are no longer getting any money.”
He said they were contesting their dismissal in the court, yet at the same time they wanted to be paid packages.
“How do we pay them packages when they are challenging their dismissal in court? Otherwise, if they did not challenge dismissal, we could have finished paying them,” Mukhuhlane said.
“On the issue of pensions, MedTech did not surrender pension’s funds to us through Fidelity Pensions scheme. We are trying to get those funds back, so that we re-instate their pensions. We have established our own pension company, MINERVA.”
He said the company was operating at 40% capacity and could not employ many people, that was why it offloaded the 10.
“If they need our help, they should come to us and talk. We have no evil intentions against them,” he said.
The former employees claimed to be owed packages ranging between $4 000 and $9 000 each.
