By Staff Reporter
A local workers rights group has called on the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) to consider processing early payments for workers in the wake of rampant job cuts choking the economy.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the unemployment rate is around 20% using the strict definition of unemployment. Records show that formal employment has been depleting over the years, leaving many citizens thriving in the survivalist informal sector where salaries are often low. Despite government efforts to ease the situation, formalisation continues to spiral out of control, creating untold carnage which has forced several companies to fold operations, leaving many workers jobless.
Speaking this week, the Commercial Workers Union of Zimbabwe (CWUZ) General Secretary, Cuthbert Chikwekwete, implored NSSA to adjust its operations in line with obtaining trends on the job markets.
“The way in which NSSA is operating urgently needs to be transformed in line with job market dynamics. Currently, most workers in our sector and Zimbabwe in general are losing their jobs way before the retirement age,” he said.
The CWUZ leader said due to the pressing situation and the rampant job cuts, very few of those who lose their jobs will manage to secure new employment, with some not even getting a job again until they surpass retirement age.
“It is therefore against this background that we implore relevant authorities to urgently compel NSSA to consider processing pay-outs earlier rather than waiting for one to reach the retirement age. This will go a long way to assist the affected workers to raise funds and venture into other self-sustaining projects,” he said.
Chikwekwete said the situation bedeviling axed workers is very dire with risks of exposing such workers to chronic illnesses and suicide in some instances.
“NSSA’s intervention by processing timely payments will go a long way to alleviate such kinds of negative impacts,” he added.
