News / National
Choppies workers defend Mphoko
26 Nov 2018 at 19:08hrs | Views
Former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko's fight for the control of Choppies has been joined by workers who have taken a stand to fight on the side of the under fire former ZANU PF leader.
On 19th November Botswana-based Choppies group CEO Ottapathu Ramachandran wrote a letter to all Choppies employees advising them not to engage in dealings with the Mphoko family.
But Ramachandran's memo angered the Choppies national workers' committee and their representative trade union, Commercial Workers' Union of Zimbabwe (CWUZ).
"Your email does not address the bread and butter hostile issues that workers have been subjected to from unprofessional Indian managers. In our view, your email also threatens the workers just like the managers," Zwelithini Malinga, the chairperson of the Choppies national workers' committee, wrote in a letter dated November 20 addressed to Ramachandran that is also copied to the Choppies board of directors
"The Indian managers practice racism, sexual harassment of female staff, and vulgar language like Africans are baboons and monkeys, which is a violation of labour laws of Zimbabwe."
Malinga on Friday said the workers' committee wanted the directors to stop harassing employees in their boardroom war with the Mphokos, adding "as far as we are concerned, we know the Mphokos have 51% shareholding".
The CWUZ weighed in with a statement: "We will not, as a trade union, tolerate that behaviour. The employees have a right to approach the Mphokos until the ownership dispute is resolved.
"The action by the workers' committee to approach the Mphokos is correct since they are also the directors of the business as things stand."
On 19th November Botswana-based Choppies group CEO Ottapathu Ramachandran wrote a letter to all Choppies employees advising them not to engage in dealings with the Mphoko family.
But Ramachandran's memo angered the Choppies national workers' committee and their representative trade union, Commercial Workers' Union of Zimbabwe (CWUZ).
"Your email does not address the bread and butter hostile issues that workers have been subjected to from unprofessional Indian managers. In our view, your email also threatens the workers just like the managers," Zwelithini Malinga, the chairperson of the Choppies national workers' committee, wrote in a letter dated November 20 addressed to Ramachandran that is also copied to the Choppies board of directors
"The Indian managers practice racism, sexual harassment of female staff, and vulgar language like Africans are baboons and monkeys, which is a violation of labour laws of Zimbabwe."
The CWUZ weighed in with a statement: "We will not, as a trade union, tolerate that behaviour. The employees have a right to approach the Mphokos until the ownership dispute is resolved.
"The action by the workers' committee to approach the Mphokos is correct since they are also the directors of the business as things stand."
Source - Byo24News
