ZFE condemns illegal strike by Lumwana Mine workers

The Zambia Federation of Employers (ZFE) has condemned the illegal strike by unionized workers at Lumwana Mine as they press for the resumption of negotiations for collective bargaining between management and their union.

ZFE President Tyson Chisambo has told a media briefing in Lusaka this afternoon that it is regrettable that the workers have abandoned the right procedure of engaging management as prescribed by the industrial and labour relations Act.

Mr. Chisambo says the federation also condemns demands by the workers to have the human resource manager removed from office for notifying the ministry of Labour and Social Security about the intentions of the company to lay off about 600 workers.

He says the workers should understand that it is a legal requirement for every employer who intends to lay off workers to in any form of redundancy to notify the ministry and that the human resource manager at Lumwana Mine merely executed his duties on behalf of the company and should therefore not be crucified.

Mr. Chisambo explains that since the issue is arising from the mineral royalty tax introduced by the government, it was highly expected that the workers in the mining sector would at this time be in partnership with their employers and effectively engage government on the matter as opposed to striking against management decisions.

The ZFE President has further called on the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions to provide the much needed leadership to the striking workers at Lumwana so that they resume work accordingly and team up with management to engage the government on the mineral royalty tax issue which is the root cause of the pending redundancies.