Wildcat strikes at KCM

Further evidence of the chaotic nature of labour relations in Zambia's copper mines. It seems barely a single pay round can proceed without a wildcat strike, police intervention and a round of contested sackingsof rank and file workers operating beyond the control of trade union leaders. The latest trouble has been at Vedanta Resources' Konkola Copper Mines, the largest of all Zambia's mining companies, and the pacesetter for all other pay settlements. Negotiations seem finally to have concluded with the two mining unions with management enforcing a15% deal after a wildcat strike and protests sufficiently serious to close the plant temporarily and lead to the deployment of riot police as workers refused to trust their own union representatives, let alone management.

In another demonstration of the reliance of the companies on the physical force of the Zambian state to maintain order, Miners were temporarily excluded from the plant and their gate passes confiscated. Police officers then picked a number of workers up from their homes at midnight. They were taken to the plant, where they were interrogated.

Africa News reported that although the strike is now over, 12 workers have since been fired.
The Post reports that the status of those workers remains a sticking point for the union and is under discussion with the company. This story includes the greatest details of the complex final settlement.
Afrol News The Daily Mail and the The Times of Zambia cover the same story

MINE Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) general secretary Oswell Munyenyembe told The Post: “We must protect our members. We do not know whether any one of the workers was charged before any dismissals were issued. One has to be charged first before being dismissed.”

KCM spokesperson Sam Equamo claimed the workers were disciplined because they disrupted operations without giving chance to their union leaders to brief them on what had been negotiated with KCM management. The workers themselves described their treatment as a serious violation of their human rights and urged the government to intervene.