Labor & Employment Law

Farm Workers Struggle One More Step Toward Democracy in Zimbabwe

By admin

Danielle Nierenberg (left) with Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe.

Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg send us a report from their journey through Africa. Read more at their blog, Border Jumpers.

Gertrude Hambira doesn’t look like someone who gets arrested regularly. Nor do the other women and men in suits who work with her at the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ). The union was formed in the mid-1980s to protect farm laborers. But arrest, harassment and even torture have been regular occupational hazards for Hambira?who is general secretary of GAPWUZ?and her staff for many years.

Unfortunately, things have not gotten much better since the 2008 elections, when Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe refused to cede power to the democratically elected Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader. The resulting power-sharing agreement has left the two sides battling for control as the nation plummets deeper into unemployment and poverty. At least 90 percent of the population is not part of the formal workforce.

Meanwhile, land reform policies have left some 1.5 million farm workers without a source of income as farms are divided up. Many tracts are given to Mugabe supporters. While Zimbabwe’s land reform was initially intended to decrease the number of white-owned farms in the country and provide land to the landless, it’s done little to help the poor in rural areas.

Hambira says:

 Land was taken from the rich and given to the rich.

The rich farmers are, however, not using the land, she notes, leading to lower agricultural productivity, higher prices for food and widespread hunger.

Hambira says that as rural areas become a target for government reforms, “farm workers have become voiceless.” But giving them back their voice is what GAPWUZ is trying to do by helping reduce child labor, by educating members about their rights in the fields and on the farm, by educating workers about HIV/AIDS and by helping women workers gain a voice in decision making.

Unfortunately, that’s why Hambira and her staff often get arrested. Shortly after Danielle met with her, the GAPWUZ office was raided by government police and she was forced to go in hiding to South Africa for several weeks.

But GAPWUZ isn’t just working to protect the rights of farm workers in Zimbabwe, says Hambira. By “looking at the plight of farm workers,” the union is helping build productivity on the farm and build a strong agricultural sector?one that will be needed more than ever as Zimbabwe struggles to rebuild and restore democracy.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on April 27, 2010 (boomark / email).