45 Cross-tabulation Awareness of a CBA and union membership p.81 Table 7.46 Chi-square tests Awareness of a CBA versus union membership p.81 Table 7.47 Is the CBA relevant vs. importance is issues and gender p.125 Table VI.3 Labor issues and union membership p.l26 Table VIAT Test.
Agriculture: A broken backbone?
The management question that this research seeks to answer is "For commercial agriculture to regain its place in the Zimbabwean economy, what are the real concerns of agricultural workers and the Union, The General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe, that must be taken into account by the various stakeholders for a productive agricultural sector to re-emerge." The shape of commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe has changed fundamentally as a result of the rapid land reform program that began in February 2000. This chapter seeks to answer the central sub-question of what has happened in agriculture and the economy with particular focus on the last five years.
Land tenure changes
In 1998, a donor-government conference reached a general agreement to gradually acquire 5 million of the 11 million hectares of white commercial farmers. It began in February 2000 after voters rejected a new constitution proposed by the government in a referendum.
Problems to do with the land reform process
In terms of the economy and export earnings Table 1.2 provides statistics on the effect on export earnings of these transitions. The reason for the collapse is the reduction in the size of commercial crops.
An economy in collapse
Without that constitutional protection, the LRA cannot be challenged and it effectively weakens labor power in several ways. a) The Act automatically grants every registered trade union the right to participate in collective bargaining, regardless of its level of membership. 34; for the life of the collective bargaining agreement each employer shall charge or deduct 3% of the annual income wages of its employees who are not members of the union who directly or indirectly benefit from that agreement and the dues so deducted to the union send " (GAPWUZ (2004) p.3) The effect would be that the CBA amendment will deal with the serious problem "free.
Sound f"mancial base of the union
GAPWUZ is also currently seeking to include the following clauses recommended by the ZCTU in the CBA to ensure that another source of weakness is removed.
Unity and solidarity within the trade union movement
J Sithole (2004), a project officer at GAPWUZ, ZCTU also assists in recruitment campaigns by GAPWUZ by mobilizing its affiliate unions to work with GAPWUZ. This research found a clear trend for the Union to rebuild the constituency and it may be that the help of union members from ZCTU affiliates has made a significant difference to the trend.
Critical dimensions of land reform and the union
In March 2003, the union's offices in Chinhoyi were burnt down, and until now the police investigation has not yielded any guilty party. It is to the credit of the Union that against great odds they have remained in business and, after losing ground in the early period of the rapid land reform, have steadily rebuilt the constituency. In the first chapter, the focus was on the need to understand the salient features of the land issue and in particular the rapid land conversion process as something that has dramatically changed Zimbabwe's commercial agriculture.
The 2003 Utete Commission was a report to the President on the implementation of the Accelerated Land Reform Program 2000-2002. She examines their fate in Zimbabwe before and after independence up to the start of the implementation of the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) in the early 1990s. The importance of her work for this thesis therefore lies in exposing the different aspects, causes and symptoms of the exploitation of agricultural labor.
It covers the land issue in Zimbabwe, the events of the rapid land reform, assesses the impact on farm workers and how they cope, the new settler/farm worker interface and the problems for farm workers that follow. The chapter on law helps to understand the complexities of land reform programs and questions the fairness and justice of the government's actions.
Understanding the Union
The management question is: “For commercial agriculture to regain its place in the Zimbabwean economy, what are the real concerns for farm labor and the Union, the General Union of Agricultural and Plantation Workers of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) that the various stakeholders need to address for the resurgence of productive agricultural sector.". Field research using structured questionnaires with agricultural workers on farms and a less structured focus group discussion with GAPWUZ staff sought first-hand what workers and the Union highlight as their real concerns. Understanding what is happening to them in terms of wages, payments in kind, employment, work difficulties and education.
How workers themselves viewed collective bargaining agreements, workers' committees and a range of labor issues. The analysis sought to explore the data in general terms and then build a deeper understanding of the work issues using various statistical tests. To obtain their views on the range of topics farm workers were asked about with a view to exploring them in more depth than was possible with structured field questionnaires.
To find out what they feel are the important issues for the Union and its members. By combining the secondary research, the results of the statistical analysis and the outcomes of the focus group, the intention was to establish the important dimensions for healthy industrial labor relations in agriculture in the future.
Sampling
The questionnaire sought minimal information on household demographics, but focused on labor and union issues. After conducting the questionnaire analysis and conducting the secondary research, relevant topics and probing questions were devised for the focus group with the Union. The context in which the questionnaires were completed influenced the study and contributed to its limitations.
Some farmers told us point blank that they don't want to see some GAPWUZ workers because they are affecting their workers. There must have been a bias built into the research that it was impossible to operate in a scientifically randomized manner in the setting. If it remained, the fear would significantly affect the participants' contributions to the research project.
The first two tables give an analysis of the areas the respondents were from and the type of farms they were on. In Table 7.2 the "other" was agro-industrial enterprises and for the purposes of this dissertation it was important that the respondents were from AI, Al, white commercial farms and agro-industrial farms.
Age in years
Results From The Focus Group
- On the Land Issue Participant's contributions
- Land Tenure
- Farming Implements
- Women farm workers
Labor's concern that the process of collective bargaining will not be interfered with is justified, but the results show the frustration of the process on the part of the government. In the past, women were paid low wages based on the fact that they were women. Both the secondary research and the focus group found that government interference in the collective bargaining of NEE wages is a significant cause of the resulting poverty wage levels.
The research provides an indication of the direction that labor relations will take in the future. 50% of respondents who were members of the Union joined in the past year, 76% considered the Union healthy or very healthy and (Table. The report on the survey on pages 77 and 78 shows that what an employee considers important , affected by its membership of the Union.
A Preliminary Report on Human Rights Violations of Zimbabwean Farm Workers and Farmers as a Result of Recent Farm Invasions, Harare. Report of the Presidential Land Review Commission on the Implementation of the Fast Track Land Reform Program 2000-2002.
At and A2 farms
34;(2) Subject to subsection (4), no employee, workers' committee, trade union, employer, employers' organization or federation shall resort to collective industrial action unless-. a) written notice of fourteen days has been given for the intention to resort to such an action, specifying the reasons for the intended action-. i) to the party against whom the action will be carried out; and (ii) the relevant employment council; and. iii) for the union or employers' organization or federation in the case of members of a union or employers' organization or federation participating in a collective labor action when the union or employers' organization or federation does not itself address such action;. This process may take 30 days in terms of legislation) (1) Subject to subsection (4), no collective labor action may be recommended or. a) every employee, workers' committee, commercial unit, employer, organization or federation of employers-. i) if the persons in question are engaged in an essential service; or. ii) if the matter in dispute is a dispute of law; or. iii) if the parties to the dispute have agreed to send the dispute to arbitration;. When there is a dispute between farm workers and employers, what procedures exist for resolving the dispute in your experience (or have you seen working in the last year?).
Practical but in a localized way 5. When did a union representative hold a meeting in your area. Are you a member of the General Union of Agricultural and Plantation Workers of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ). Choose only the most important for you). In conscientious Negotiating resolutions women and public knowledge of agreements children before exploitation on labor rights plight of farms at the farm level farm workers.
Alice Zamba: President of a workers' committee representing 400 workers. Mr. What should be done regarding the following issues. How would the union push for labor issues while pushing for sustainable recovery in the agricultural sector?
