Shamenda counsels unions

Labour and Social Security Minister Fackson Shamenda

Labour and Social Security Minister Fackson Shamenda has advised unions planning to protest over the period for concluding negotiations for improved conditions of service for public service workers, following the lifting of the wage freeze to follow the right procedure in airing out their grievances.

And Mr. Shamenda has also advised opposition political parties to leave issues of industrial relations to relevant bodies.

Commenting on the threat by the Judicial and Allied Workers Union of Zambia that workers will have to resort to strike action because the stipulated timeframe to salary negotiations is unacceptable, Mr. Shamenda says workers should not allow to be used by the opposition to things they may end up regretting.

He says the opposition will not be there to defend workers when their actions turn sour.

Mr Shamenda has cited the strike action by nurses at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and other hospitals in 2013 which he says the opposition incited, but the nurses were left to defend themselves when things turned against them.

The Labor Minister has since advised unions not to be misled by the opposition.