NEC empowers tourism sector

THE National Employment Council (NEC) has come up with various strategies to capacitate members in the tourism sector to be able to address labour issues internally and avoid tarnishing the image of the industry.

Tourism is one of the key contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and experts have said a healthy sector free from litigation and labour disputes helps attract tourists.

The sector conducted a workshop for members in Victoria Falls recently, amid calls for employers and employees to harmoniously settle disputes.

This comes at a time when contractual issues have been a cause for concern in the tourism industry.

Mr Cosam Gohori

NEC chair, Mr Precious Mhaka said the workshop was aimed at making members understand the objectives and mission of NEC tourism as well as make them familiarise with changes in the Labour Act.

“We are having a very important training for NEC tourism, focusing on areas we think are very important. The other issue is mental health, which is affecting the sector and we are trying to take time to unpack and make members appreciate it and help mitigate that because we have seen that in terms of productivity members are having challenges,” said Mr Mhaka.

He said the industry had been noted to be having flaws in disciplinary procedures out of grievances by workers.

“It is a platform for our members so that if they have questions they ask, we have taken our offices to the industry to engage members directly. The impact of this workshop is huge,” said Mr Mhaka.

“One of the key issues in tourism is reputation. So, when members are equipped, we will have less cases flying into the courts as they will be able to handle issues internally and tourists will find the organisations clean with no labour issues.”

President of the Employers Association in the Tourism Industry, Mrs Barbara Murasiranwa-Hughes said the training is going to help bridge the gap between employees and employers expectations.

Mrs Barbara Murasiranwa-Hughes

“Right now, we have a lot of misunderstanding and we are learning to bridge the gap. Employees should understand that they can add value and an employer knows that workers are important,” she said.

“As a tourism industry we have challenges like the seasonality of the industry and if our house is in order, our contribution towards the Gross Domestic Product of the country will increase.

“We are the third contributor right now after mining and agriculture but going forward we see tourism coming to number one because there is an understanding between the employee and employer. We want harmony that brings growth and reduces the number of labour cases.”

NEC Tourism general secretary, Mr Nomore Nhema, said: “We are capacitating the workers committee and tourism industry to ensure that when they handle disciplinary cases they do in an amicable way so they focus more on production.

Mr Nomore Nhema

“Let’s sit together and come up with solutions, which ensure we empower our industry. We want to help achieve Vision 2030 and let’s not go to courts because it affects us,” he said.

Mr Nhema said the industry has over 9 000 workers in the hospitality industry and about 16 000 employees in the catering sector.

NEC Tourism legal advisor, Mr Cosam Gohori implored employers and employees to manage industrial relations properly and continue to contribute significantly.

He said existence of good relations between employer and employees contributes to more income. —chroncile