No-one was sacked at Chambishi!

The Lusaka Times reports the most remarkable climbdown by management at the Chambishi Copper Smelter, which now claims that it did not dismiss striking workers.

In a statement to ZNBC News Company Secretary, Sun Chuanqi said the workers were merely being asked to explain why they took part in the riotous act, and why they stayed away from work while ctalks went on between company and union.

Meanwhile, three of the eight Chambeshi Copper Smelter workers have been charged with malicious damage to property while five union officials have been released unconditionally. Workers have since been asked to report back for work.

The Daily Mail covers the same story, and reveals that management are nonetheless, running the workers through interviews, with a heavy riot-police presence, to establish who the ringleaders were.

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ronald Mukuma criticised the workers for rioting: “We are spending hours at the tripartite committee discussing the importance of dialogue and yet people are doing the contrary,” he said. He claimed labour laws clearly stipulated procedures to follow when there was a dispute, other than the action taken by the workers. As discussed in other blogs, this is actually where the problem in Zambia lies. Mukuma claimed that some National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) officials were reported to have incited workers to go on strike.

Meanwhile, CCS company secretary Sun Chuanqi said in a statement the workers will not be dismissed indiscriminately, and that CCS would be guided by its in-house code of conduct and the country’s labour laws. “For now, none of the workers has been fired. We have merely given them three days in which to exculpate themselves, and there after, that is when management is going to make a decision. But for now, they still remain our employees,” he said.

Mr Chuanqi said the company’s idea to write summary dismissal letters to the workers was meant to keep them away from work because some of them were intent on destroying company property.

He said “We have come a long way with our workers and their services to this company are valuable. In fact, this is their investment, and the challenge is upon them as employees to guard it jealously.”

He said management and the union would continue negotiations and that management established that only a quarter of the workers took part in the riot while most of them were unwilling participants who were persuaded by their colleagues to take part.

He was convinced that most of the workers would soon resume work. By yesterday afternoon, management had given 300 employees their summary dismissal letters while 100 had already exculpated themselves and were working. A Zambia Daily Mail team that visited the plant found workers taking turns in walking into human resource offices to be interviewed on whether they took part in the riot or not. The interviews of the workers were conducted under heavy presence of police in riot gear.

In another development reported in the Lusaka Times, Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM) has awarded its employees an 18 per cent percent salary increment across the board. Speaking at the signing ceremony of the new collective Agreement LCM Chief Executive Officer, Derek Webbstock said the increament will harmonize the working environment. And Mine Workers Union of Zambia President, Rayford Mbulu assured the mining company of its continued support. He said MUZ will work closely with LCM to enhance growth of the mining company.