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afrol News, 15 May - The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) reports it still is targeted through police intimidation, government threats and the arbitrary use of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). ZCTU is the leading, independent Zimbabwean trade union. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has stated its continued concern about President Robert Mugabe's "tightening grip" on the free organisation of workers in Zimbabwe. The ZCTU came in a special focus of government harassment after its former leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, became leader of Zimbabwe's political opposition. - Following bitterly contested elections in a country where 80 percent of the population now live in abject poverty, the Mugabe regime has once again taken steps to drive Zimbabwe further into the dictatorial grip, says ICFTU Press Officer Louis Belanger. "Instead of aiding the struggling workers of his country, Robert Mugabe has incessantly continued to target the ICFTU-affiliated ZCTU," he adds. In April, a Zimbabwean High Court ruling expressively had allowed trade union meetings without police interference, referring to national law. Belanger however points out that "the government-led harassment has not abated," calling it a "flagrant disregard" of the court's ruling. The crackdown on activities of the ZCTU had included threats from the Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo to outlaw the union, the propping up of a new union - controlled by the ruling party ZANU-PF - at the expense of the ZCTU, and further police harassment of legal trade union meetings. Only last week, the police persistently had demanded to be present at a ZCTU-run trade union seminar in Bulawayo. The ICFTU had once again been "led to address a letter to the Zimbabwean President to express its outrage at his disregard of basic trade union rights," Belanger says. In the letter, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder urged Mugabe "to take immediate action to put a stop to these threats and to all actions by the authorities that interfere with the ZCTU's legitimate trade union activities, and to ensure respect for and promotion of internationally accepted labour standards and practices." - The ZCTU has become Mugabe's scapegoat for an ever-deteriorating socio-economic situation for which he himself is to blame, added Ryder. "The ZCTU is a legally constituted trade union federation striving to promote workers' interests. The ICFTU is calling on international solidarity to ensure maximum pressure on the Mugabe regime for the need to guarantee accepted labour standards, not to trample over workers' rights." The government holds that ZCTU is controlled by the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). It sees its views confirmed by the union's failed attempts to organise a general strike after the rigged March presidential elections, where ZCTU supported the MDC's interpretation that the vote had "been stolen" by Mugabe. ZCTU has also organised large manifestations and strikes protesting the country's economic collapse, which they hold is a result of President Mugabe's failed policies.
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