Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) workers have accused chief executive officer Adelaide Chikunguru of making decisions that make their conditions of service unbearable.
In a letter of complaint addressed to board chairperson Helliate Rushwaya and copied to other board of directors, the ZBC workers committee accused Chikunguru, human resource director Julius Toringepi, and corporate secretary Patricia Muchengwa of undermining decisions meant to improve their welfare.
The Standard reported sources as saying the trio is deliberately delaying the processes to have workers’ salaries increased as a way of sabotaging the new board.
Chikunguru is said to be loyal to the past board led by Josaya Tayi, which was appointed by former Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa. The letter reads in part:
February 9, 2024, the board HR committee sat to review the works Council CBA [collective bargaining agreement], and it is unfortunate that the Friday minutes will never arrive on time because the trio is ahead of the board in terms of dilly-dallying with time and excuses.
The workers claimed Chikunguriu, Togarepi and Muchengwa failed to send the recommendations of the HR committee to the board so that the workers declare incapacitation.
They said, in the past, such procedures used to take a week not the three to four weeks this has lasted. Wrote the workers:
It is worth mentioning that there is corridor talk circulating that the trio is bragging and has been vowing that they want to show the employees that they are the ones who make decisions on whether they want to give an increment, and therefore the board is useless in their eyes.
Furthermore, whilst we used to have delays of increment approval from elsewhere, it has never happened before for the executive to sit on a CBA for more than five working days at Pockets Hill.
Their response to the employee incapacitation letter, after we wrote to the board chair, is further testament that they do not have any urgency or sensitivity to employee welfare.
The ZBC workers claim they are owed back pay for October to December 2022 and other dues for January to March 2023 outlined in the National Employment Council collective bargaining agreement.
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