Summary

Trade unions representing workers in Zimbabwe's local authorities identified environmental problems faced by members of their two unions and laid the basis for cooperative solutions involving trade unions, local authorities and the communities.

Between 1992 and 1995, as Zimbabwe's economic situation grew increasingly grave, two public sector unions assisted by the ILO Project on Workers' Education and the Environment, initiated a project which translated Agenda 21 objectives into issues for their workplaces and communities. As their members provide environment-related services in Zimbabwe, they were able to provide an inside account of the major issues which must be addressed in that country's urban and rural communities.

Basic training in occupational health, safety and environmental issues enabled union and branch health & safety representatives to distinguish sustainable development issues of their own, as distinct from "northern" conceptions. Teams conducted in-depth investigations of environmental issues as they related to: housing and community environments, work environments in the local authorities, and the impact of retrenchment on the community environment. They focused on conditions that affected basic individual and community needs; these became their sustainable development issues.

Research teams defined the problems, developed their own research methods, collected and synthesized findings, and produced reports for unions, governments and NGOs. As research revealed more problems than solutions, they extended the process into seminars with researchers, union leadership, local authorities, government, and NGOs, to begin the process of formulating policy and programmes on environmental issues in local authority areas.

The Country and Regional Context

Zimbabwe's population of over 10 million finds itself in the midst of drastic change that is having a negative effect on the sustainability of their working, living and natural environment. A formal sector workforce of about 1 million, of which the largest is agriculture (about 250,000) and mining (about 68,000) is plagued by massive unemployment, and growth in the informal sector.

The Zimbabwean government is currently implementing an Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) according to terms dictated by the international capital market. Trade liberalization, domestic deregulation, and fiscal and monetary policies of austerity have imposed an added burden and have been challenged by the trade union movement in that country.

Although Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980 after years of conflict, basic economic structures have yet to change. Poverty has deepened, infant and maternal mortality has risen, real incomes are lower than at independence, and economists are predicting that real per capital incomes will not return to pre-ESAP levels until the next millennium. The economy has produced only 250,000 new jobs since 1979, hardly equaling the number of entrants into the labor market each year.

The Participants

The two unions involved in the project represent local government employees in the urban and rural areas of the country. The Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers Union (ZUCWU), a federation of individual urban council unions has a potential membership of 35,000 workers employed in local authority health services, community services, clinics, maintenance, and construction. The Zimbabwe Local Authority and DDF Workers Union (ZLADDFWU) was registered as a union in 1991, and has a potential membership of 80,000, with a low level of unionization.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), with 32 affiliated industrial unions, established a health and social welfare department in 1990 to serve as a training and resource centre for health and safety, and to provide for support in negotiations in this area. It works with a team of health and safety officers from national unions.

A major contribution to this project was made by the Interdepartmental Project on Environment and the World of Work, a Project of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the agency of the United Nations established for labor and social affairs. Tripartite advisory meetings held subsequent to the UNCED, discussed the extent to which environmental problems were hindering the social partners' ability to address their social objectives, and agreed on two major priorities, later endorsed by the ILO's Governing Body:

• to help tripartite constituent deal with environmental and sustainable development issues themselves; and
• to integrate environmental and sustainable development issues within its programs and technical cooperation activities and projects

The Context for Action on the Environment

With so much of its life and economic activity dependent on the natural environment, Zimbabwe places a high priority on environmental issues. Concern has been aroused by the fact that industrialization is making agriculture increasingly large scale, capital-intensive, technologically-advanced and dependent on agro-chemical inputs. Urbanization, soil erosion, deforestation, siltation of dams and rivers, and pollution of underground water and water supplies - all intensified by a recent drought - have impacted heavily on the population, prompting a national search for solutions.

Sustainable development issues in Zimbabwe relate directly to the human need for jobs, food, energy, water, health, safety, education, and shelter. Satisfying these needs involves the world of work, and the sustainability of the economy in light of such major constraints as:

• Inequities and entitlements which relegate most people to land with the lowest agricultural and economic potential;
• Exclusion of local communities from development planning and decision-making at the local level;
• Extreme poverty, both a result and a cause of environmental degradation;
• Institutions which emphasize control rather than empowerment, and centralization rather than participation.

As well, while current economic policy in Zimbabwe promotes some diversity and self-sufficiency, it also perpetuates a political legacy which links maximization of production to a weak regulatory framework. The Structural Adjustment Program, with its emphasis on export earnings, liberalization of imports and exports, deregulation of key sectors, and gradual withdrawal of the state from many central roles, has reinforced this trend.

Specific, noticeable impacts on the environment include: a rise in agro-chemicals and dangerous substances in production; the weakening of organized labor by retrenchment and proposals for unregulated export processing zones, the weakness of rural communities and elected representatives, and the impact of urban migration on already over-stretched urban facilities. Furthermore, the ESAP is creating an environment in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to monitor its effects.

Finally, Zimbabwe imports growing amounts of hazardous waste from abroad for use as raw material in industrial manufacture. With 60% of Zimbabweans relying on underground water supplies, contamination by unplanned waste dumping has become a serious issue, especially as many local authorities lack capacity to employ proper disposal methods.

The Government of Zimbabwe's Response to Agenda 21

Following Rio, the government of Zimbabwe sponsored a National Response Conference to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Its purpose was to integrate Agenda 21 into the country's national development plans, and to assign responsibility for priorities to various government and non-governmental institutions. Trade unions were represented, as were other community organizations: e.g., farmers', women's, church, youth UN institutions, and donor agencies.

The Government is currently implementing these recommendations, reviewing environmental legislation, and developing a comprehensive Environmental Management Act to integrate existing statutes and regulations. As well, a Scientific Industrial Research and Development Centre will investigate industrial pollution and create a national database on environmental information, and a National Environment Council will be established by 1997 to facilitate environmental protection programmes.

Broad-based consultation has produced an Environmental Impact Assessment Policy that allows widespread input from all sectors of Zimbabwe society prior to approval of development projects and programmes. It has produced a number of responses to threats such as deforestation, desertification and climate change. The Rural Afforestation Programme, for example, provides training to allow rural communities to manage local resources in such a way as to actually increase the supply of fuel wood.

The National Social Security Authority promotes occupational health as a basis for economic growth, in a holistic approach that ensures both a healthy & safe working environment and a sound physical environment. This is particularly timely as retrenchment is resulting in crime and homelessness, increasingly unhygienic conditions, over extension of social welfare and community organizations, and environmental degradation.

Finally, Africa 2000, an environmental NGO assists the Ministry and local groups with programs that allow them to address environmental problems in their communities.

Implementation of the Environmental Project

In 1992, the ZCTU Health and Social Welfare Department carried out initial training and planning with representatives of ZUCWU and ZLADDFWU, with assistance from the ILO Project on Workers' Education and the Environment. Proposals for environmental action were discussed within the broader framework of occupational health and safety. More training took place in the following year, utilizing a video-tape developed by the ZCTU in cooperation with the ILO, as well as locally-compiled materials.

Delegates met again in November 1993 to form research teams, receive further training in research methods, and design research projects. Research initially meant finding out what information was available. It later developed into a process that involved: taking pictures, using drama and stories to provoke discussion, discussions with informants, group discussions, observation of the environment, listening surveys, in-depth case studies, questionnaires based either on interview or self-administered, collection of background material, analysis of information over time, and comparison of information between different groups. More than research, it grew into a process that linked workers with other groups in the target local authority areas, and initiated a long-term process of discussion and local action.

Key environmental issues were identified and assigned for investigation by four research teams:

• Work environments in local authority areas. A team studied work environments to identify hazards posed to workers, particularly those dealing with environmental hygiene. Members surveyed the work area and interviewed workers to find out the main work environment problems existing in waste disposal, roads and transport, housing, and water supplies. They assessed worker and management knowledge, attitude and practices towards hazards and hazard control in environmental work.
  Background information on the work and the workforce was collected in Bulawayo and Chitungwisa from: workshops, sewage treatment works, the electricity department, building stores, security, refuse, water and parks section and crèches and beer halls. A survey identified specific hazards that affected the workers and community, and their control. Finally, over 200 workers and supervisors were interviewed for their views and knowledge of working conditions and appropriate actions to be taken.
• Occupational illness and medical checks for local authority workers. A team examined medical checks that were carried out to determine the impact on health of workers in environmental services, as well as to determine what workers and management knew about these checks. It asked about pre-employment assessments, as well as subsequent medical check-ups, and how they related to hazards on the job. It also asked if medical examinations were done at retirement. Finally, it determined what knowledge and attitudes existed amongst management, workers and their representatives on health effects of work and on occupational medical assessments.
  The study was carried out in Gweru and Chitungwisa, targeting three at-risk jobs: refuse disposal, sewage disposal, and towed roads grading. Information was obtained from the environmental health inspectorate, community based health workers, area health information officers, and from NSSA records on illnesses and medical assessments. Workers, workers representatives and management were interviewed on these questions.
• Housing. A team investigated the housing situation, associated problems faced by workers and the community, and the effects these were having. They compared demand for housing with supply, and identified views and perceptions of the housing situation and its impact on the community. Finally, they canvassed the views of authorities, workers and communities on action that should be taken on housing.
  The research was carried out in Harare, Chinoyi and Hwange where information was obtained from local authorities, government departments and the media. A walk-through survey was conducted to identify and record different housing types and the impact of this housing on the community environment. A cross-section of people from the different housing types, the authorities and housing co-ops were interviewed. As well, researchers attended meetings throughout the area to listen to housing concerns.
• The impact of retrenchment on the community. A team explored the extent of retrenchment, its impact on the community and obtained views on ways to deal with it from relevant community organizations and retrenched workers.
  Research was conducted in Bulawayo, Gweru and Mvuma, with background information collected from the media, union and government sources. Researchers found that information on retrenchment was not readily available. In some cases, statements were quoted directly from the retrenched and those who deal with them. Discussions were held with agencies that deal with the effects of retrenchment, including the church. Finally, a walk-through survey of the community was conducted.

Findings of the Project Teams

Work environments in local authority areas. It was evident that health and safety had been largely been overlooked in local authority areas, endangering the workers and the public alike. Researchers discovered little or no policy, planning, little provision for health and safety considerations, poor maintenance of equipment, poorly-controlled hazards in work environments and poor work organization, with attendant industrial relations problems.

They documented specific cases of unsustainable work environments in such areas as sewer clearing, refuse collection and spraying. They found an erratic and irregular supply of protective equipment, a lack of basic welfare provisions such as canteens and ablution facilities, poor provision and maintenance of work equipment, and a lack of consistent personnel policies. Inadequate or non-existent legal protection for workers in local authorities and poor job definition all added to these problems. Furthermore, workers were unaware of their right to compensation for work-related disease.

Environmental risks to the community included: unregulated vending and unhygienic practices in crèches and beer halls that could spread communicable disease; poorly maintained vehicles, inefficient equipment and poor service leading to poor hygiene and spread of infectious disease; infectious disease carried from the workplace back into the community; open sewage treatment works, with smell and actual contact in the surrounding community; and, unfilled potholes leading to accidents and mosquito breeding.

Occupational illness and medical checks for local authority workers.

Environmentally- related communicable disease was a constant threat in the community, placing workers in community environmental services at risk, especially as they lacked proper training, equipment or safe practice management. Registers in local authorities contained no record of job-related disease, and employees and managers were generally unaware that job-related disease should be reported and compensated. Workers received no medical check-ups following their pre-employment check, and were denied protective equipment. In addition:

• Sewerage workers were exposed to poor cooking facilities and diets, bacteria, parasites and mosquitoes in sewage and water canals, and methane gas. They reported work-related diseases that included diarrhea, dysentery, malaria, bilharzia, weight loss, respiratory illnesses, and tuberculosis.
• Road towed grading workers were exposed to bitumen dust, paint, mechanical hazards, and poor diet, and reported respiratory disease, skin rash, injuries and tuberculosis.
• Refuse workers were exposed to heavy lifting, fungus and carcasses, refuse dust, chemicals and poor diet, and reported back injuries, skin disease, respiratory disease, and tuberculosis.

Workers asked for: greater cooperation from occupational and environmental health authorities, regular medical check-ups, compensation for job-related illness, research on occupational illnesses, protection from job loss because of illness, and for union negotiation and follow-up of these issues. They provided recommendations for prevention and protection from these hazards.

Housing

Although there was a marked variance in housing estimates, all sources indicated excessive waiting lists compared to available housing. In spite of a lack of reliable quantitative information, research revealed large numbers of lodgers, squatter camps and backyard shacks, all posing environmental problems.

The housing problem is particularly severe for low-paid workers, the unemployed or marginally-employed, with evidence that insufficient regulation means that many are being gouged by landlords. Moreover, lack of financing is translating into an "upward drift" for the available stock. As well, residents complained of such problems as: proximity to open sewage ponds, high water charges, smoke and smell from dumping sites, mosquito breeding in areas of poor drainage, and inadequate toilet facilities in public venues.

The team recommended a forum to insure that agencies with responsibility for housing consider the findings and recommendations of this study. As well, they recommended that the ZCTU become actively involved in the housing issue by organizing forums, promoting housing as a collective bargaining issue, and arranging for low-interest loans.

Impact of retrenchment on the community.

Estimates of retrenchment since the introduction of the ESAP vary from 10,000 by government sources to over 40,000 by ZCTU. The main job "squeeze", however, is in creation of new employment, as the tendency has been to protect existing jobs.

Most results were anecdotal, focusing on the experiences and perceptions of affected communities. Workers complained that the ESAP had resulted in unfair treatment in the workplace, with complaints not being recognized, arbitrary discipline or dismissal, and withdrawal of benefits. Others complained of poor investments, run-down building and equipment, corruption and waste. Effects on the community included: an increase in drug abuse, theft and criminality, numbers of street children, unsupported unregulated vending, homelessness, lower standards of living, poor hygiene, ill health, all of which adversely affected life in the whole community.

Retrenched workers reported a drastic decline in standard of living, as well as the need to resort to practices which further lowered the quality of life in the community and adversely affect the environment; e.g., lack of money for basic needs, confusion on available options and social benefits, withdrawal of education and other activities for children, insufficient retraining, resort to vending and other marginal activities, return to rural areas with no prospects, and the need for family members to enter hawking or other informal work.

Community organizations, churches and NGOs expressed concerns about the impact of retrenchment. Some created employment through public works, establishment of supermarkets, income generating projects, and building brigades. Others responded directly with provision of basic needs, but found that demand outstripped supply. Many cited the need for a central coordinating agency.

For the most part, employers saw retrenchment as a solution to the problem. They expressed concern about wage demands, the inflationary effect of collective bargaining, and the devaluation of the dollar. Some saw removal of taxes and other restrictions on investment as necessary for job creation.

The general view was that the ESAP had failed and should be replaced with an economic policy focusing on job creation and the domestic market. Trade unions were seen a strong pressure groups which along with churches and supportive organizations, could insure that the social effect of retrenchment would not remain hidden, and would hold the government accountable for its policy. They believed that the ZCTU had a role to play in education on the effects and responses to ESAP, and in organizing workers faced with retrenchment. It was felt that the research itself had a positive effect in the community, as it provided a forum for airing of grievances and concerns.

Lessons and Recommendations for the Union

The dichotomy between perceptions of the environment, particularly between those that focus on ecology issues and those with a focus on socio-economic issues, must be recognized by anyone promoting Agenda 21 objectives. Likewise, a distinction between urban and rural priorities proved significant, especially as many problems encountered in urban areas stemmed directly from unsustainability in rural areas. Project participants outlined the issues they saw in the findings that had implications for their unions:

1. Local authority workers who are themselves responsible for the provision of environmental services to the community, suffer from poor working environments, lack of education on hazards, lack of organized structures to deal with work environment problems, and inadequate employer recognition of the importance of healthy work environments for both worker and community interests. The unions were urged to negotiate and implement health and safety policies on their behalf, and hold local authorities responsible for their lack of action in these matters.
2. Workers in local authority areas suffer from a mass of work-related illnesses which are not monitored, recognized or compensated. Even worse, some workers face terminations for these illnesses. Unions must see that workers in high risk areas are provided with regular appropriate medial checks, work related illnesses identified and compensated, and hazards removed.
3. Retrenchment due to the Structural Adjustment Programme poses a problem, not only to retrenched workers, but to the community as a whole in the form of rising homelessness, squatting, crime, street children, and potentially unhealthy or unhygienic informal sector activities that may emerge. These problems remain marginalized and the mechanisms of the SDF largely unknown and underutilized. Poor support of community organizations that offer employment and social welfare support to retrenched households. A more coherent national union response to retrenchment as a national and community issue is needed.
4. The housing crisis is growing with no effective national, coordinated solution. This has led to cynicism and ad hoc solutions from those in need, speculation and drift of housing stocks into the hands of the wealthy, and household, community and environmental problems from unaddressed housing problems. Unions must press for a national housing policy with input from many organization, including consumers, financiers, providers and builders of housing. A union-organized forum of all organizations to address housing issues would enhance their ability to reach an effective solution.
   Note: The ZCTU Health and Social Welfare Department had already carried out its own housing study in cooperation with PLANACT, a national research project on housing as an investment. ZCTU and the unions involved in this study have agreed to hold follow-up activities at a national level to encourage a forum of concerned organizations to resolves some of the critical problems of provision, financing, and construction of housing. In addition, ZCTU is exploring the use of pension funds for housing finance. Hence this study avoided macroeconomic and national issues in favour of a case study of the environmental impact of housing problems in these communities; this work will feed into the broader ZCTU project on housing.
5. Workers' and union agendas on the environment must be closely linked to basic needs and working life issues. Unions must be more active on environmental issues, with training that links environment issues to other areas of worker needs, to union education, collective bargaining, and positive action. Environmental issues were seen as a potential focus of civic response to problems that affect the workplace and households in the community.

Subsequent activities

In November 1994, a three day meeting of researchers discussed findings, compiled a report, and considered future action, particularly how material would be used by unions and the ZCTU for policy, programmes and training. Follow-up activities discussed, including visits to communities. The ZCTU Health and Safety Welfare Department will use the materials to highlight environmental issues in educational materials.

Another series of follow-up meetings was held between May and September 1995 with representatives of local authority workers and their employers to identify areas for negotiation and action. As well, a protocol for a ZCTU/ZUCWU/ZLADDFWU programme on health, safety and the environment was developed.

A skills development and policy workshop for national executive of both unions covered: basic health & safety, housing, environmental issues, collective bargaining issues, chemical safety, AIDS and employment, and priorities for Local Authority Areas. Members focused on housing and environmental issues raised in the research project, and renewed their intention to lead the fight for some action in these fields.

Agenda 21 Objectives and Lessons

The situation faced by members of the two unions and their communities provides a clear illustration of one of the central messages of Agenda 21. Simply put, sustainable development must include more than environmental protection; it must be about meeting people's immediate needs and legitimate desires. The Zimbabwe case makes it clear that economic development cannot stop; it must change course to less ecologically-destructive forms of development which "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Eradication of poverty and reduction of disparities are prerequisites.

The aim of anti-poverty programmes must be to enable people to earn a living in a self-sufficient and sustainable manner as provided in Chapter 3 (Combating Poverty). In Zimbabwe, this entails access to land, natural resources, and sufficient financing. Any progress in this area must include the conservation and protection of resources and the environment, however, as development which focuses exclusively on increasing production of goods and services eventually result in an increase in poverty. Finally, Agenda 21 recognizes that sustainable development becomes much more difficult where a nation is faced with massive debt, and discriminatory trade and pricing patterns.

The long-term economic progress linked to environmental protection described in the Preamble is possible only where nations establish new and equitable global partnerships involving governments, their people, and key sectors of society. The ZCTU project shows how non-governmental organizations are crucial to innovation and action.

The project provides graphic illustration that human health depends upon a healthy environment, including clean water, sanitary waste disposal, and an adequate supply of healthy food (Chapter 6 on Protecting and Promoting Human Health). Unfortunately, as described in Chapter 7 (Sustainable Human Settlements), where unplanned urban growth outstrips capacity, people are left without adequate livelihood, food, shelter, or other services. Urban pollution is linked to illness and death; overcrowding and poor housing contribute to tuberculosis, meningitis, respiratory and other diseases. In these conditions, indigenous peoples suffer higher than average rates of unemployment, poor housing, poverty and ill-health.

The case underlines the importance of fresh water to human activities, as well as to the healthy functioning of nature. Scarcity, gradual destruction and increased pollution of fresh water, including inadequately-treated sewage and industrial waste reflect the messages in Chapter 18 (Protecting and Managing Fresh Water). Likewise, Chapter 21 (Managing Solid Wastes and Sewage) describes how growing quantities of garbage and sewage from cities pose threats to human health and the environment.

Many problems and solutions listed in Agenda 21 have roots in local activities, and thus bring to the fore the key role that that local authorities must play in sustainable development as described in Chapter 28. As these union members were employed in the sector being studied, they demonstrated the unique position which workers and their trade unions occupy with respect to Agenda 21 activities as provided in Chapter 29.

This project showed why education for sustainable development must focus on not just the physical environment, but on the socioeconomic environment and human development, as well, providing workers with training, both in occupational health and safety and in skills for sustainable livelihoods, as provided in Chapter 36 (Education, Training and Sustainable Development). In addition, it shows how education and training are best achieved through community-based, collaborative methods.

Finally, the supportive role of the ILO Interdepartmental Project reinforces the critical role the United Nations system must continue to play in restructuring and revitalizing in economic, social and related fields to insure the implementation of the concrete programmes of Agenda 21, as explained in Chapter 38 (International Institutional Arrangements).

For further information contact

I. Mudyandaruva
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
10th Flr., Chester House
3rd Speke Avenue
Harare, Zimbabwe