ZCTU  worried about “colonial era” labour provisions in Special Economic Zones Bill

ZCTU said the Bill was taking away the labour minister’s powers because the Special Economic Zones Act is to be administered by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare’s input is only on the making of regulations if the Authority considers it necessary to consult.

“The Labour Act was enacted by the President after serious consultation with labour and employers. This attempt to make the Special Economic Zones Authority to be the legislature in special economic zones and bypass a law duly made by parliament is tantamount to subverting the powers of parliament and the will of the people of Zimbabwe who chose to have a unified Labour Act in place,” said Moyo.

“Investors in special economic zones must be bound by the Labour Act and any regulations to be made must be made through collective bargaining other than unitarism and or unilaterally as proposed. This is a primitive way of labour legislation and takes us back to the colonial legislation era where labour rules were just imposed,” said Moyo.

He said the ZCTU feared that many workers would be left with the protection afforded them by the legislature through the Labour Act.

The Bill also proposed the preservation of secrecy and the penalty for disclosing such information about the authority and investment.

“We wonder why a public institution must (conduct) its business in secrecy. This is likely to promote corruption as those with inside information are not allowed to report any malpractice by the authority and investors,” said Moyo.-The Source

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