Gweru — The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has proposed radical changes to the Labour Act that might see men taking paternity leave. The proposals, which were revealed at a ZCTU Women's Advisory Council workshop last week, have already been submitted to the Minister of Labour, Paurina Mpariwa.

ZCTU says it has also met Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who cut his political teeth at the country's labour centre, to drum up support for the potentially far reaching reforms.

According to the Labour Act, only women are allowed to go on maternity leave after giving birth.

But the labour body says the provision is not only discriminatory but also disadvantages women.

"We have since made our submissions to Labour Minister Paurina Mpariwa and it is our hope that they will be taken seriously and incorporated in the envisaged new labour law so workers can enjoy various rights and freedoms, some of them denied since the colonial era," ZCTU legal advisor Zakeyo Mtimtema said.

"We made the same submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Labour last year.

The ZCTU wants men to be allowed 14 days paternity leave so they can assist their partners soon after giving birth.

Mtimtema said they also wanted changes to the provision that says maternity leave can only be granted to employees who have completed one year with the same employer.

The same provision stipulates that an employee can only be granted maternity leave thrice under one employer and that there should be 24 months in between pregnancies."The solution is to give the right to all female employees without considering period of service," he said.

"Employees must be allowed to decide how they want to space their children and how many children they want to have regardless of whether they changed the employer or not."

ZCTU also wants the breast feeding period to be increased from one hour per day to two and this should be over 18 months and not the current six.

Other proposed changes include a 48-hour notice to go on strike instead of the current 14-day written notice.

"We demand that notice be only 48 hours like in South Africa so that workers' grievances can be expressed with the urgency they deserve," Mtimtema said.

The unionists say they want a Labour Act that decriminalises strikes, outlaws police intervention and bars employers from replacing workers who go on strike.

They also want workers who go on strike to receive full pay and solidarity strikes legalised.

On retrenchments, the labour body demands that employees must be given two months' remuneration for every year served, six months' severance pay, three months' salary for relocation costs where applicable and one year medical benefit after termination of contract.

It also proposes that the Labour Court, which it describes as a toothless dog, should be given additional powers so it can enforce its decisions contrary to the prevailing situation whereby employers can ignore its judgments without any repercussions.

ZCTU also wants the Labour minister's powers, condemned by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2000, to be clipped so that unions can be autonomous.

According to the current legislation, the minister has powers to investigate trade unions, set aside union elections, fix the qualifications of unionists, postpone or change venue or procedure of election and make regulations to control trade unions.

Employers through the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe and the Public Service Commission are also expected to make submissions on the proposed reforms.