Govt urged to ensure that labour laws are not flouted

Zambian academician Henry Kyambalesa

Zambian academician based in United States of America Henry Kyambalesa says it is important for the government to ensure that labor-related laws and regulations are not flouted by employers, and to enact pieces of legislation designed to make it illegal for employers to hire casual workers.

Mr. Kyambalesa says there is a need for Parliament to enact legislation designed to make retirement benefits payable within 60 or so days from a retiree’s last date of work.

Mr. Kyambalesa has observed that it has become common practice for employers in Zambia to hire employees on part-time and temporary conditions of employment.

Mr. Kyambalesa in a statement to Qfm news says the phenomenon is mainly caused by a number of factors such as the prevalence of a high level of unemployment in the country’s economy which has made desperate job seekers to willingly accept part-time or temporary jobs.

Mr. Kyambalesa also says the meager incomes earned by a vast majority of individuals who are employed on permanent conditions of service in the country have prompted such individuals to actively seek part-time or temporary jobs in order to supplement their inadequate incomes.

He adds that attempts by employers to circumvent the costs associated with catering for employees’ housing, medical, vacation, terminal, and other benefits normally accorded to permanent or full-time employees has contributed to an escalation in the casualization of labor in Zambia.

Mr. Kyambalesa says as a result, a lot of Zambians today are subjected to a high level of job insecurity, unstable incomes, and lack of housing, medical and other employment-related benefits.

Mr. Kyambalesa says there are main ways by which the Zambian government can redress the problem of rampant casualization of labor in the country citing that there is a need to provide adequately for low-interest loans to small business prospectors through the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) to lessen the current over-reliance by unemployed Zambians on employment in corporations.

He further states that the government needs to create more jobs through lower taxes and interest rates designed to induce investments, savings, and consumption in order to make job seekers less vulnerable to employers of casual workers.