Trade unions threaten mass strike over new labour

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) would call a national strike if parliament passed a proposed labour law which bars the unions from work stoppages, a union leader was quoted as saying on Wednesday. ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo said that if the government refused workers the right to strike, “its confrontational, they will have chosen the antagonistic approach”. “If the bill passes in its current form, workers will not accept such a repressive piece of legislation and may be forced to exercise their democratic right to withdraw labour,” he told a news conference. “Once a worker is refused the right to strike he is docile,” he said. He added that the proposed law was intended “to stifle and weaken the labour movement”, which is closely linked to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).