PLANS to have a National Employment Council (NEC) for the Media are at an advanced stage following revelations at a meeting that took place a week ago in Masvingo.

A worker representative from the Financial Gazette, a weekly business newspaper said they did not even know what grade they were in at work as their employer never elaborated on that. “We don’t even know what grade we are in and it baffles us when it comes to salary negotiations,” he said. On the other side a representative from the state owned sole broadcaster in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) said their case was tricky in the sense that the entity was not making any profits due to mismanagement and flawed operation policies. This made it easy for the company to tell its workers that they do not have money even after being told to do so by an arbitrator. “We have been given certain percentages from arbitration but still the company can not pay us because it has no money. This has left us at crossroads and many a qualified human resources is going,” he said.

From the deliberations that took place in this meeting, it was agreed upon from both the private and government media that an NEC for the Media industry was needed so as to cushion the journalists from unfair labour conditions. ZUJ president Mathew Takaona said this plan had been in the pipeline for long and it was now time to see it onto effect. “There are other forces that do not want to see this good and noble initiative for journalists come into effect but I am happy to say as of late they have become so supportive,’ he said. Though he was at pains to explain the forces he mentioned above, he said all was in the right direction for the establishment of an NEC for the media.

Zimbabwean Journalists are amongst the least paid in the world and most of them are failing to make ends meet. For a journalist to raise enough money to buy just a cellphone or the line it is such a mountain climb and this has seen most of them resorting to soliciting for bribes from unfortunate people who happen to have some dirty linen about them falling in the hands of the journalists. Most of them do not have proper clothing and move around in torn shoes. On the ladies side young female journalists have resorted to multiple partners with cash enough to make their lives easy when they are at work. It is so easy to notice the different between a Zimbabwean journalist and others from the region. The situation has been made worse by the shrinking media industry after the government was influential in the closure of the vibrant Daily News, Mirror as well as several other private newspapers. To add to this, draconian laws have been put in place that make it difficult for newcomers to open more media houses.

---

Share This Story On:

Average user rating

Display 3 of 3 comments