Concern over government's strike ban

Zimbabwe's Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has expressed concern over the government's decision to ban strikes in essential services and its ability to redefine what an essential service is. Collen Gwiyo, acting secretary-general of the ZCTU, called the new legislation "draconian" and said removing the right to strike presupposed that the existing mechanism to resolve disputes was efficient. "But it is not," said Gwiyo. "The government wants to curtail any freedom of movement and expression." In March the Labour Relations Amendment Act came into law. It does not contain a definition of what an essential service is, leaving it to the discretion of the labour minister to decide what profession can be listed. Explaining the new legislation, National Constitional Assembly head Lovemore Maduku said that while banning strikes in essential services, like nursing and fire brigades, was not uncommon internationally, the fact that the list of essential services was allowed to be changed at short notice was worrying. He said this meant that if a sector not included on the list warned that it was about to strike, the current legislation allowed the minister to issue a last-minute declaration, changing the list to include that sector and ban the strike. "So in the Zimbabwe context, the service may not necessarily be essential, but it is what the minister considers essential," Maduku told IRIN. He added that the previous law set out what an essential service was, whereas the current one leaves it up to the minister. The current list includes employees of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the Zimbabwe National Railways and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Company, he said. However, the list no longer automatically includes all civil servants, with teachers absent from the list at present. Maduku, a constitutional lawyer, said an important point in the legislation was that the strike ban did not cover stayaways - regarded as political actions. "A strike is limited to a dispute between an employee and an employer over wages or working conditions. A stayaway is not illegal in terms of labour legislation. This is covered under the Public Order and Security Act, which makes it compulsory to seek police clearance," he said. Earlier this month the opposition launched the latest in a series of anti-government stayaways, reportedly bringing most business to a halt for a week. A last-minute court order banned the stayaway, and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and charged for treason for his role in organising it.