Workers Participation in the Company Decision Making Process and Companies Social Responsibility

Abstract

The starting point in this article is to look at the Companies Act Chapter 190 and determine whether there is anything in the Act that allows for employees of the company to participate in the decision-making process within that company. The answer is a simple one. There is nothing in our present Companies Act which requires companies to involve employees in the decisionmaking process of the companies even in major industrial matters concerning them, for example, in amalgamation, in transfer of undertakings or winding-up and so on. The workers interests are completely ignored. The reasons are partly historical and partly commercial. It is not the purpose of this article to look into these reasons in detail but the root cause of the absence of such provisions will be highlighted. The law favours the capitalists i.e. the shareholders who, as owners, are the supreme constitutional authority in a company; they control such key decisions as the passing of a resolution on a winding up, the alteration of the articles and the memorandum of association, and the reduction or increase of capital as well as the appointment of directors to act in the interest of the company (i.e. the interests of shareholders both present and future), in this structure of ownership and control of the company employees do not figure at all. Taking an overall view, economic power is being increasingly concentrated in large industrial enterprises which are becoming increasingly remote from the communities they serve and their employees. Our country is failing to draw out the energies and skills of its working population. If a new basis for relations in industrial democracy could be created then this problem would be solved to an appreciable extent. Industrial democracy would lead to a greater willingness on the part of the employees’ unions to accept a share of responsibility for the increased efficiency and prosperity of Zimbabwe companies.