Two Zimbabwean telecoms companies alleged refusal to let their employees join any labour union of their choice has drawn sharp criticism from the country’s national employment council.
Zimbabwe’s state-owned operator TelOne and mobile operator NetOne have allegedly told their employees that they are not allowed to join the country’s National Employment Council (NEC).
The NEC’s secretary for communications and allied services, Elismore Tavengwa, told Zimbabwe’s parliamentary portfolio committee on public service, labour and social welfare that the telcos’ refusal to let their employees join NEC for the communication sector was a serious breach of the law.
Tavengwa added that the companies’ move has resulted in the workers of those two orgnanisations losing out during collective bargaining when they wanted their salaries reviewed.
“TelOne, a government-owned institution, has decided to withdraw illegally from the NEC citing union intransigence as its reason for withdrawal.
"Workers were not consulted, and this has crippled collective bargaining for a company that has over 3 000 employees,” said Tavengwa.
He also said that both TelOne and NetOne were operating without boards that represents workers, a situation which Tawengwa added further disadvantaged them when negotiating their wages and salaries.
"To make matters worse, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Nicholas Goche who in most cases, was always busy to have dialogue with them," said Tawengwa.
TelOne and NetOne have not responded to the allegations levelled against them by Tavenga.
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