OVER 700 workers at the RioZim Limited Company are demanding the removal of management and the institution of investigations at Masvingo’s Renco Mine as the labour dispute between the employer and the employees rages.
In a letter dated November 25 addressed to company executives, the workers, through Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Mineral Workers Union secretary Justice Chinhema, expressed discontent over the manner in which the company is being run by the current management.
The petition was signed by 716 workers.
“We are writing to you and we represent our members, dedicated and determined workers of Renco Mine and their community . . .,” Chinhema wrote.
“For more than five years now, workers of RioZim have been expressing deep dissatisfaction with the management’s failure to ensure timely payment of wages.
“Renco Mine workers have so far engaged in several job actions demanding that they be paid salaries on time and when it is due because production will have happened.”
Chinhema said the mine work ers were wallowing in poverty with morale having hit rock bottom.
“It is imperative that you make sure that your organisation operates under principles of transparency, fairness and accountability,” the letter read.
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“By this letter, we are following up on your response to the issues raised by workers of Renco in their petition and we are urging you to investigate the management’s practices concerning the alleged taking of gold carbon outside the mine for processing, cost of replacing the boiler insulators and other acts as highlighted by workers.
“We believe that commitment to ethical practices and respect for all workers working for Renco Mine is of paramount priority in your organisation.”
The union threatened to refer the matter to Parliament for its intervention.
On October 31, the Labour Court passed a judgment which compelled striking mine workers to go back to work and also ordered management to honour its obligations to employees.
This was after RioZim filed a Labour Court urgent chamber application seeking an order declaring the strike illegal.
On November 25, RioZim Group human resources manager Jasmine Njanike wrote to Renco Mine employees advising them of the challenges faced by the company as a result of their prolonged strike.
“We would like to reiterate that the executive and the board of directors of RioZim Group are in full support of the entire management team at Renco and the efforts they are making to resuscitate operations in a challenging environment after a prolonged period of inactivity,” Njanike wrote.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no intention to change the Renco Mine management team.”
Njanike implored employees to work together with management to return the mine productivity.
