Labour matters guru calls it a day

HAVING written the Labour Matters for approximately 24 years, I believe I have made my contribution to Labour Matters in Zimbabwe and I leave this column believing that the workplace relations have improved a lot and others will take the baton and we move on.

The last 24 years have been exciting, with many WhatsApp messages, phone calls and emails from readers making a follow up on labour matters articles that I will have written. Some agreed with my reasoning, others made suggestions for improvement while others disagreed with my writings. They all contributed to Labour Matters and I am grateful to them.

When I told my office team that this will be my last article on Labour Matters, they were disappointed but having worked with me, they understood my firm belief in that in every community service assignment I have taken, I get to a point where I have to pass-on the baton.

True to the Ndebele saying Kusinwa kudedelwana, I have no doubt the Chronicle will find a fresh pair of hands to make an even better contribution.

It would not be true to say I have sanitised the labour relations environment. It’s a journey and it requires employers, Government and workers to continue pushing. There will always be “rogue” employers and “rogue” employees who need help and the Government will at times need guidance.

The matter of workplace rights is a human rights issue, which calls for the preservation of the dignity of men and women at work to be respected at the same time the employer’s right to manage his business as he sees fit has to be respected. It is striking the balance between the two that will always remain problematic.

The equal-unequal relationship between employers and employees at contracting level, at Works Council and in everyday relationships shall continue to cause conflict between employers and workers.

The cross pollination of cultures where the European, African and Asian yardsticks of human rights and workplace rights fail to converge continues to be a thorny issue as workers cry for decent jobs and employers push for productivity improvement.

I leave at a time when the post Covid-19 era has accelerated entry of technology into the workplace and also changed the character of what we call work and the workplace.

Working for several employers, working flexi-hours and many other changes present challenges to the crafting of labour legislation that will ensure sanity prevails in the new order where there is now a mix of employees and service providers who demand specific workplace rights.

Personally, I grew out of the research I did when writing the articles, I was forced to read a lot to an extent that I can now call myself “moving labour legislation”.

The complex cases I dealt with and the questions from readers helped me handle my other work better, for that, I am grateful to all the people I worked with.

DAVIS DUMISO SIBANDA

It was a great honour to have dealt with topical and important labour matters in one of our national newspapers in an effort to make my contribution to the body of labour law and labour relations knowledge and for that I thank the Chronicle and readers alike despite that at times I rubbed workers, employers and the labour related arms of the Government the wrong way.

I am sure we all came out of it a richer nation in labour relations.

One highlight in my articles I will always remember is when I wrote that Doctors do not grant sick leave. The article created a lot of debate and I have no doubt that thousands read it as I saw it on many platforms and had so many telephone calls, emails and WhatsApp messages around it.

In conclusion, it would be irresponsible for me not to mention Mrs Miriam Sibanda (nee Madziwa) who persuaded me to write for the Chronicle way back in 1998 and I thank her for setting me on a labour relations and labour law path.

There were other business editors who were also fantastic to work with including Mr Prosper Ndlovu, the late Mr Mernat Mafirakureva and senior reporter Oliver Kazunga to mention a few. Everything has a beginning and an end, this for me is the end of my journey.-chronice.cl.zw