THE government is moving to review its labour laws in line with international conventions, a cabinet minister said Friday.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Nicholas Goche said this while presenting a paper titled 'Making Zimbabwe Labour Legislation Competitive' in Victoria Falls at a recent seminar organised by the Institute of People Management of Zimbabwe.
He said reforms to the country’s labour laws were necessary if the country is to ensure 'the development of sustainable enterprises and the fulfilment of socio-economic goals’.
Plans are also on the cards, to revive the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) and the Zimbabwe National Productivity Institute (ZNPI) as government attempts to revamp working conditions for the ordinary worker in the face of continued economic deceleration.
"Government is in the process of reforming the Labour Act to align it International Labour Organisation Conventions (ILO) and the new constitution in order to attract investment into the country,” said Goche.
“I am pleased to tell you that the thrust of the on-going labour law reform process is to achieve the broad developmental objectives as elaborated in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset)".
Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa, has been in economic tailspin since the turn of the century and from the majority of the country’s working population is now consigned to the informal sector as industrial haemorrhage continues unabated.
Goche said the reforms are also necessary to level the playing field for both the employer and the worker to ensure that “...no one side can perpetually profit at the expense of the other”.
Goche said the ZNPI, a government initiative aimed at benchmarking industrial competitiveness and objective productivity should be revived to ensure that the collective bargaining process is more meaningful and to create correlation between worker's remuneration and enterprise sustainability.
The TNF - a forum where government, business and labour come together to deliberate on socio-economic challenges of the time - would also be re-introduced.
"I can inform you that as we speak, the parties have agreed on the principles that should inform the necessary legislation. It is my expectation that before the end of the year, a draft TNF bill will be in place," said Goche.
Zimbabwe subscribes to eight of 26 ILO labour conventions whilst the current review of the Labour Act will strengthen protections on child labour, forced labour and non-discrimination as required by the ILO.