Retrenched workers of the Tanzania-China Friendship Textile Company Ltd (Urafiki) protest at the main gate of the factory along Morogoro Road in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Tucta Secretary General Nestory Ngulla
The Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (Tucta) has said institutions declaring their employees redundant on the basis of rises in the minimum wage are guilty of evasion of duty and taking unfair advantage of the workers.
Tucta Secretary General Nestory Ngulla said in a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday that offloading workers on ``such a lame excuse`` was crude, wrong and indefensible.
``Companies should show clearly in their calculations concrete proof of their inability to pay the recently announced minimum wage in terms of production and the loss to be incurred instead of just suspending or retrenching their workers,`` he noted.
He said he was shocked and astonished on learning that some companies were declaring their workers redundant while others were suspending theirs en masse even before the Government?s minimum wage order took effect.
?These companies should not arbitrarily declare that they will be without the capacity to pay the workers as ordered.
They should first implement the directive and then evaluate workers` morale and productivity accordingly relative to the payment of the new salaries,`` stated the veteran trade unionist.
Ngulla?s remarks come in the wake of a rising wave of reports that some companies have been busy sending away a section of their workforce on the pretext of escalating operational costs due to the recently announced rise in the minimum wage.
Urafiki Textiles Company in Dar es Salaam is one of the companies reported by a section of the media to have gone for the option by deciding to declare at least 500 workers redundant some two days ago.
However, the workers are now up in arms and have called on the Government to intervene in the saga before they spill the beans by exposing alleged evils going at the firm.
Some of the workers suspended say they found their names listed on the notice board to the effect that their services had been terminated from October 27. The company is jointly owned by China and Tanzania.
But the firm?s deputy assistant manager, Mosses Swai, dismissed reports that they were permanently trimming their workforce. He explained that the exercise going on did not go beyond ?suspension until further notice?.
?We have taken down their contact addresses so that we can inform them when it is possible for us to have them back at work,? he said, adding that the decision was strictly due to rises in running costs.
Musoma Textile (Mutex) and Mwanza Textile (Mwatex) were also reported to be having similar cost-cutting plans.
The Government earlier this month announced a new minimum wage of 150,000/- effective next month.
Labour, Employment and Youth Development minister John Chiligati said when contacted yesterday on the adverse impact the directive was having that they were still fine-tuning the modalities of implementing the changes.
?The Government is aware of the problem and is working on the modalities of dealing with the problem.
However, it is clearly wrong and unfair for companies or any other institutions to use the rise in the minimum wage as an excuse for suspending or retrenching innocent workers, noted the minister, promising to issue a statement on the matter soon.
Meanwhile, Barrick Gold Tanzania yesterday announced the termination of the services of 900 employees from its Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Kahama District, Shinyanga Region.
The firm`s public relations and communications officer, Teweli Teweli, said in a statement issued in Dar es Salaam yesterday that workers offloaded had taken part in an unlawful strike called by the Tanzania Mining and Construction Workers Union (Tamico) last Wednesday.
The Bulyanhulu Gold Mine management had notified the employees that the services of all those who did not report for duty have been terminated and their positions would be advertised soon, he said.
According to Teweli, the management would not discriminate against any sacked employee seeking re-engagement ?and everyone is free to apply for any of the job vacancies to be advertised``.
``It is unfortunate that Tamico left us with no other option. We have gone to great lengths for an amicable solution to avoid industrial action but the Union has acted in bad faith,`` said Bulyanhulu Gold Mine general manager Greg Walker in a second statement.
It is reported that the company has suffered a loss of revenue estimated at $5.2m/- which is expected to accumulate unless full-scale operations resume soon.
Barrick Gold Tanzania also operates North Mara and Tulawaka goldmines and is soon due to start work on the Buzwagi project, currently at the centre of controversy.
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