The Medical Buzz
nurses ...Say no to
Voice of the MedicalProfessional and Allied Workers Union
Volume 1 of 2010 . 1st floor Crossroads Building N0, 43 Julius Nyerere Ways
Harare Telefax (04) 704209
Its deliver
deliveryy time now ...
now
as manyw
many or
wor
orkker
erss join the union
Hullo comrades Compliments of the new year 2010, l hope
you all had a restful holiday though you had no enough
resources to enjoy it to its fullest , me included.Hopefully
we all opened the year 2010 with the same spirit we had
last year that is an uncompromising urge to end an unjust
system that breeds greediness and shamelesness
amongst our bosses who prefer to consume more on their
own whilst we pine in unbridled poverty forgetting that its
us who toil the most to produce the wealth they enjoy singly.
.Many of our kids are going to drop off from schools as we
cant afford school fees yet we have information to the effect
that some kids of parents who work at our places facing
similar viability challenges as we are told are being send
to expensive schools locally and even abroad using the
wealth we produce ... How long shall the discrepancy exist?
Anyway , thats the way it is but its not meant to last for ever
. Our struggle is not an isolated struggle at all but its part of
a global struggle being waged by the working people in
rejection of a failed neoliberal system ( a system that
pushes profits extracted from exploitation ahead of human
lives). Its a system that has caused many workers to live in
abduct poverty.
However , Medical Buzz appreciates unanimous support
it continues to get from most medical institutions it has so
far been able to contact .
Our membership far exceeds our December target.
Reaching that remarkable target was not a walk in the park
as special credit has to go to all comrades who incessantly
sacrificed their time to recruit by all means neccessary
.Comrade President and collegues at West End hospital
your contribution is priceless job well done comrades .(really
Support St Anne`s
Starvation wages
demand living wages
Email mpawuz@gmail.com
i
women can do it am convinced) Mudhara treasurer your
commitment is unparalleled , l find it easy to work with
people with such mega commitment like yours .
Munotipawo shingiso .The list is infinite but I feel indebted
to EMF and Clinical lab employees muri magamba
chaiwo keep it up .
Our key challenge now is to make sure we cover areas
outside Harare where we have no membership .We
have some members out of Harare on few institutions
like CIMAS, MARS and EMRAS courtesy to our
comrades working in the same institutions here in Harare
but we need to expand beyond that .Hopefully moneteray
problems which restrained us last year are not going to
recur as many centres start remitting subscriptions . .The
curtain is coming down for aggressive recruitment drive
as we now focus on more other important issues ahead
of us such as the NEC issue which is just by the corner,
the ZCTU issue and as well as servicing our
membership .
Above all Thanks comrades for bit by bit we have
managed to be where we are now moreso with a zero
budget .
Its a Red Hot Union rega uonezvako , Join it !!!
M Sambo General Secretary
Our own NEC for the
Medical sector
by March ...it’s a must ..
 Workers know your rights
The Rights of Workers Committees
WORKERS COMMITTEES ARE A VERY IMPORTANT
ORGAN OF WORKERS STRUGGLES which emerged
in 1979-80 formed spontaneously by activists who were disillusioned
by sell outs and cowardly trade union leaders of that time.
In 1979-1980 thousands of workers in over 300 companies went on
wild –cat strikes demanding better wages, against racist bosses and
the repeal of unjust and racist laws like the Master and Servants
Ordinance and the Industrial Conciliation Act.
These strikes forced the state to pass new laws like the Minimum
Wages Act and Employment Act resulting in big increases in minimum
wages, the repeal of most of the racist and oppressive colonial labour
laws and legal recognition to workers committees.
Since then Workers Committees have played an important part in
workers struggles .In many cases where trade unions are weak or
have sold out , it is workers committees that have initiated and led
strikes like the powerful strikes by Standard Charted bank workers ,
Nutresco workers and by construction workers in 1999.In unions like
printing and Dairiboard, workers committees mobilised workers to
boot out corrupt and cowardly leaders and started to re-build their
unions.
But is has not been rosy. Bosses have infiltrated many workers
committees, bribing their members or dubiously promoting members,
so that they sell out workers or splinter unions. On the other hand
militant members of workers committees have been victimised,
transferred, demoted or dismissed as happened in many places.
To build strong workers committees three things are necessary
that is:
a) The committee must be democratic , always ensuring that
before agreeing to any decision with the bosses they have called
a general meeting to get workers’ approval .the Chairperson or
any member of the committee should not meet bosses alone ;
b) The workers committee must mobilise workers to join and
actively participate in the trade union to make it stronger, democratic
and militant.
c) Workers committees must continuously improve their
knowledge of the law and history of the working class, the political
economy of capitalism and how to fight it. Workers must have
copies of and study the Labour Act and their code of conduct.
Let’s look at some of the most important rights of Workers Committees
under the Act.
Section 25A- The Right to be consulted before any major
decision by the employer
This provides powerful rights to workers. Under section 25A (5) and
(6) the employer must consult the Workers Council before implementing
any of the following things:
a) Restructuring of the work place to introduce new technology or work
methods .
b)Job grading and training schemes or development of new products
.c) Closure of factory or any intention to sell or merge the company..
d) Implimentation of any code of conduct ,whether registered or not.
e)The criterion for payment of bonuses or profit sharing.
f)Retrenchment of employees, whether voluntary or compulsory.
Before implementing the above, the employer must give the workers
committee full written information, sufficient time for them to study them
and to hold meetings with workers to consult them so that they come
with any alternative proposals; to consider the alternative proposals
advanced by workers and to try its best to reach agreement with the
workers; and if it agrees to give in writing its reasons for refusing.
If a boss proceeds to implement the above without consulting the workers
committee, the following options are available for workers:
a) To go on immediate strike under section 104(4) stating that
there is an immediate threat to the existence of the workers committee
b) Alternatively, workers can do a partial strike, refusing to carry
out or implement the changes by the employer until it consults the
Workers Committee. Such refusal would not be disobedience to
a lawful instruction , as the changes by the employer would be
illegal;
c) To make an application to a Labour Officer to conciliate on the
matter ; and if it is of a very urgent nature to immediately then
make an application for an interdict or injunction to the Labour
Court, stopping the employer from applying those measures .
In the next issue we look at other rights of workers
Committees.
Mpwuz mobilises full solidarity for
victimised St Anne‘s
Nurses including full legal support
Volume 1 of 2010 page 2
Key resolutions made by the MPAWUZ General members meeting held on the 5th December
2009 at Horizon INN ( Harare )
The General Secretary outlined the history of the union and why it is vital
for the resuscitation of the union now considering a of myriad of problems
currently being faced by workers in their respective institutions .He stated
that employers are taking advantage of the absence of an NEC and a
strong united Trade Union to victimise workers .He reported that some
employers are unyieldingly attempting to refrain their employees from
joining the union realising the potential it has.
He further reported that the union has so far written a courtesy letter to
the Ministry of labour care of the Registrar of Trade Unions familiarising
the union and as well informing them that we have engaged the
Employers organisation to initiate the process of registering the NEC. He
told the house that arrangements are currently underway with the
Zimbabwe labour centre such that next year 2009 they will assist us by
training some of our members some basic knowledge on labour
regulations .
Here are key resolutions made by the meeting
a) The issue of the NEC is very important hence we cannot
afford to keep on delaying the process as people are already
waiting for it. The meeting resolved that we shall not go
beyond end of January 2010 before we sit down with
employers to start registration or else we seek the Minister‘s
intervention to speed up the process.
b) It’s high time the union should start representing its members
in settling some disputes at company levels .
c) We should take a hard-line stance on those employers
deliberately sabotaging us by not deducting members
subscriptions otherwise our activities shall be crippled.
d) Recruitment remains our priority until February 2010 hence
we should maximise our recruitment drive so that we have
more members by the time we register NEC to avert any
possibilities of opposition from other interested NECs currently
purporting to represent our industry. In that respect it was
agreed to split our Union into six distinct sectors each with a
steering committee that will be responsible for recruiting in
their sector .
Here are the sectors indentified and comrades seconded to
the committees
1) Hospitals and Clinics
Chair Chifamba(Avenues Clinic) Vice Chair Chiremba
(WESTEND) Secretary Marufu ( Suburban and Vice Sec
Kuvenga (Suburban ) Committee member Chones Baines
Avenue
2) Laboratories
Chair Malvern Musarurwa ( Clinical labs ) to fill in the
committee later
3) Medical AID societies
Chair Ndiweni ( PSMAS) , Vice Chair Mtamuzeli (
CIMAS) , Secretary ( Manatse ( EMF)
4) Ambulances
Chair Munyaradzi Maregedze ( MARS) to fill in the
committee later
5) Imaging
Chair Pamela Ndangara ( PSMI Imaging ) committee to
be filled in later
6) Pharmacies to be done later
Chitungwiza so far was considered a region therefore we shall
have one committee that will be responsible for recruiting in
Chitungwiza across all sectors.
St Anne’s Workers say No to Victimisation
Medical Buzz salutes St Annes hospital employees for their
buoyancy as they face interminable attacks from their bosses
who have been resisting to effect a salary increase for some
time .Bosses went too far by victimising nurses who had
exercised their right to strike and reject peanuts. Workers
should not be demoralised though because that is the only
language bosses can understand .Workplace based strikes
are not as effective as industry wide strikes hence there is
need for workers to unite under one union and one NEC so that
wage negotiations are done on an industrial level and action
is taken across the whole industry to avoid victimisation .We
urge St Annes hospital workers to come and join in MPAWUZ
so they be part of a pool of other fighting medical workers.Our
strength is in numbers so united we win . Mpawuz is ready to
assist all victimised workers regardless of your membership
status
Volume 1 of 2010 page 3
 The Medical Buzz
Voice of the MedicalProfessional and Allied Workers Union
volume
Volume 1 of 2010
The fight for a living wage
The CENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE estimates
that a worker needs a net pay of US$660 a month to
live decently with his/her family. This is the
breadbasket in Zimbabwe now.
Bosses across many sectors are not paying this much
and the survey made by The Medical Buzz in the
medical field reflected that many workers are earning
in the region of US$150-US$220.
It is of extreme importance that workers understand
the issue of wages because it goes to the heart of
why bosses are rich and powerful and workers poor
and oppressed. Some great economists stated that
“the average rate of wages is equal to the sum of
necessities sufficient to keep up the race of workmen
in a certain country according to the standard of life
habitual in that country. That standard of life maybe
very different for different classes of workmen” In other
words, in the ideal world, wages should at the
minimum be equal to the bread basket, or the cost of
goods and services necessary to keep a worker and
his or her family alive at what a worker sees as a
decent standard, plus the cost of training that
particular skill of worker. This is a living wage.
Workers normally produce wealth equal to this wage
and the cost of raw materials and equipment used, in
only a small portion of the working period, say half of
the working week. What is produced after that is extra
wealth, or surplus value .However bosses take all this
new wealth, even if it has been produced by workers
sweat. Overtime this accumulates and makes them
richer and richer, using that wealth to buy control over
the society at large. Meanwhile , the worker remains
where she /he was before at best just adding a few
items of personal property like a radio, TV , bicycle
but remain workers who have to work for bosses to
survive. In most cases vana vanoramba vachirara pasi
sembambaira.
But in practise, wages like other commodities, are
determined through bargaining between workers and
bosses in the market and will therefore depend on the
relative bargaining power of each party. Wages are in
fact elastic, moving between two levels that is an
absolute minimum where no human being would be
able to survive on, say US80 a month today and a
maximum level, where it would almost end up
threatening the bosses’ profits. A living wage is
somewhere in between these two.
To increase profits bosses always push wages down
as much as possible close to the absolute minimum
.For instance trying to force workers to accept a lower
standard of life than they had got used to , like families
living in a one room or surviving on one meal a day or
indirectly through overtime or increasing productivity
through technology. On the other hand workers strive
to archive at least a minimum wage. So there is a
constant struggle between the two. But the struggle is
not a fair one .the individual worker needs a job to
survive otherwise s/he will starve or become destitute.
Also employed workers are always in competition with
the unemployed workers who are ready to do the work
for a lower wage.
Workers can only improve their bargaining power by
forming trade unions and using them to effect or
threaten actions that hurt the bosses where it pains
the most ie the point of production. The state of the
economy also matters. Where the economy is growing,
minimum pressure even at company level, can push
wages up , as unemployment would be lower and profits
higher, whilst during economic crisis , bosses resist
much and will require harder pressure .Thus where
workers have united , democratic and militant unions ,
in which leaders are accountable to the rank and file ,
the greater their ability to get wages closer or even
above the living wage, even in times of economic
turmoil .
So join the union now and be part of a generation
fighting to end starvation wages .
Shinga Mushandi Shinga !!!!
We continue with a similar discussion in the next issue
…..