Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140) - Zimbabwe (Ratification: 1998)

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2008, which includes brief replies to the matters raised in the previous direct request, as well as a communication from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) forwarded to the Government in November 2009.

Granting paid educational leave. The Government indicates that the provisions of the Convention are given effect through collective bargaining agreements under the auspices of the National Employment Councils, which cover various sectors of private and quasi-governmental enterprises. The Government further explains that paid educational leave is partly incorporated into individual companies’ rules, regulations, or individual employment contracts and that for the public sector, such leave is guaranteed under the Statuary Instrument No. 1 of the 2000 Public Service Regulations. The ZCTU, however, expresses its concerns about the lack of minimum standards regarding paid educational leave in the private sector, since the Labour Regulations Act has no relevant provisions on the subject. Although collective bargaining agreements in some industries provide for paid educational leave, ZCTU observes that some employers refuse to grant such leave to their employees. The Committee recalls that the Convention requires the formulation and application of a “policy designed to promote, by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice and by stages as necessary, the granting of paid educational leave” (Articles 2–5 of the Convention). Accordingly the Committee reiterates its hope that in its next report the Government will include relevant documents related to the formulation of such policy in association with employers’ and workers’ organizations (Article 6). In particular, the Committee asks the Government to provide practical information on the availability of paid educational leave in the private sector (Article 9).

Article 4. Formulation and coordination of the policy. The Government indicates that the coordination of the national policy on paid educational leave with other employment policies will be subjected to a tripartite consideration in the near future. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on effective tripartite consultations held to coordinate the national policy and their results.

Article 7. Financial arrangements. The Government communicates the difficulty of surveying all workplaces in order to determine the amount of available funds for paid leave in a given period. The Committee invites the Government to indicate the measures envisaged so that it will be in a position to submit in its next report the requested information on the financing of arrangements for paid educational leave.

Article 8. Discrimination. The Government recalls that section 5(i) of the Labour Relations Act of 2000 ensures that workers have equal access to paid educational leave, irrespective of race, sex, colour, creed, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. The Committee refers to its comments on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and asks the Government to provide in its next report on Convention No. 140, information on measures taken to ensure that all workers have equal access to paid educational leave.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]