Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) employees have threatened to strike and not report for duty if their demands are not met in the next 10 days. AMH is the publisher of NewsDay, The Standard, and The Zimbabwe Independent.
TechMag Tv can confirm that the workers have been approaching the management with their concerns but they have since fallen on deaf ears and are accusing the management of being insensitive to the plight of the workers.
This is not the first time there has been a dispute between the workers and the management in the last month, the workers took to the Managing Director’s office after their June salaries had been delayed by over three weeks.
In an email from the Worker’s committee to the management, they cited a number of grievances including being underpaid, need to adjust transport allowance as they are only earning for just five days and the employer’s slow reaction to cushion its employees against the harsh economy.
Part of the message to the employer read:
“Please take notice that owing to the ever-increasing cost of basic commodities, transport, rentals and access to medical facilities against stagnate salaries the workers who we represent are now in the red. We have approached your good office and raised these issues with the hope that management would be sensitive to the plight of the workers. Workers have noted with concern and pain that management is slow to cushion its human resource base against the vagaries of a harsh economy. We have been instructed by the workers to give notice as we hereby do that the workers are unable to continue reporting for work if their conditions of service are not reviewed to cushion them. Please take note that the over borrowed, hard working and under paid workers cannot and will not be able to report for work if their conditions are not improved within the next 10 days .”
In response to the grievances stated above by the employees, AMH management today responded,
We appreciate the issues raised in the email and we empathise with the situation as we are all living in this hostile economic situation. We will be sitting as management this week and we will revert back and call for a full Works Council meeting to discuss and map a may forward which ensures business continuity and employee welfare.
The employees await feedback of the meeting and way forward as they contemplate downing tools over power remunerations and tough economic environment that has greatly affect most businesses in Zimbabwe.
However, some employees who spoke to TechMag.Tv said there were irked by statements and propaganda which is currently being churned out by their chairman Mr Trevor Ncube, who is painting a beautiful and prosperous economic environment, while he fails to pay his employees.
Source: TechMag
