Business / Local

by Thobekile Zhou

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National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) Lewis Mukwada has been accused of sacking workers claiming they were absent from work yet they were attending meetings with him and the board.The struggling firm fired scores of workers who went on a two-month strike recently.Sources within the railway firm told Bulawayo24.com today (Wednesday) that Mukwada rejected appeals from the fired workers."NRZ general manager have chosen to reject appeals made by those who were served with dismissal letters prior to court judgement of 15 June which compelled all striking workers to report to work within 48 hours," said the usually reliable insider."The NRZ is insisting that the targeted employees were absent from duty and not on strike yet those employees appeared on their(NRZ) list of those who were on strike which they used in court ."Shockingly, some of the employees who are alleged to have absented themselves even attended meetings with management and board chairman during the strike in a bid to find common ground"."So far four appeals have been rejected and the manager is showing no urgency as it took him two months to reply to just four appeals out of 25".The affected include 25 train drivers /enginemen spread across Mutare (six) Harare (one), Bulawayo (six), Dete (one) and 11 in Gweru."Sixty % of them are trade union, Railway Association of Enginemen (RAE) office bearers including the General Secretary Vice secretary general, acting president and councilors of this Union which represent train driver. This is obviously a move to disable the union.Lower lines managers are also accused of taking opportunity to settle their own personal differences with some of their subordinates by sacking them.