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State ponders reinstating ex-Zamtel workers

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GOVERNMENT says it is ready to facilitate dialogue between Zamtel management and the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to have some of the workers retrenched prior to the sale of the company to LapGreen of Libya reinstated.

Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Labour Fackson Shamenda said ZCTU should find time to engage the union at Zamtel and come up with the most organised way to help some of the former workers to get their jobs back.

Speaking when he visited the ZCTU headquarters in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Shamenda said there is need to sit down with union officials who represented former Zamtel employees during the separation process and chart the way forward for the former employees.

The minister, however, said that not all retrenched workers will be reinstated because the action might disrupt the established structure at the telecommunications company.

He said when reinstating some of the workers, concerned parties should work out a well co-ordinated system that will not breed corruption at the institution because of the manner in which the selection process for reinstatement will be done.

“You will have to work out a well-organised system that will not create favouritism. It has to be done in a more organised way,” he said.

Mr Shamenda also condemned union officials involved in negotiating for workers’ conditions during the separation process from Zamtel, saying they clinched a raw deal for retrenched employees.

The minister accused the union leaders of “messing up” the negotiation process, which resulted in retrenched workers facing hardships.

He also appealed to union officials to stop using the minimum wage when negotiating for improved conditions of service with mining companies and others as this will disadvantage them.

Mr Shamenda said unionists should concentrate on negotiating for conditions of service that will make sense to workers.

He urged the labour movement to clarify and consult with Government on various labour matters which can cause differences and divisions among workers.

And ZCTU president Leonard Hikaumba appealed to Government to expedite salary negotiations for public service workers because any delay may create anxiety among civil servants.

He said delays in negotiations can result in industrial unrest, which can negatively affect productivity.

Mr Hikaumba said the labour movement is not interested in derailments in salary negotiations and the bargaining process should always be free and fair.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

31 COMMENTS

  1. What a load of rubbish!!!! Zamtel was filled to overflowing with unqualified lazy relatives of people in management. . . .watch now as Zamtel goes down the toilet from which lapGreen dragged it. For all their faults LapGreen turned around what was a bankrupt white elephant and turned it into a company that would have been able to take on MTN and Airtel in the race to capture subscribers. The had recruited a young dynamic workforce that infused new ideas into the company . . . . now Sata whats to bring back a bunch of aging pensioners who will sink the company in a matter of months. If anyone in government has a brain between their ears they will find another investor to take over the running of the company.
      

    • It seems you are so Misinformed. for your infor very very few of the so called old fellows want to go back. Zamtel had seriusly qualufied guys with Masters whose skills are being wasted.Dont comment from oblivion. do you know how many youths below the age of 35 who were there?

      VIVA GOVT

  2. What a load of rubbish!!!! Zamtel was filled to overflowing with unqualified lazy relatives of people in management. . . .watch now as Zamtel goes down the toilet from which lapGreen dragged it. For all their faults LapGreen turned around what was a bankrupt white elephant and turned it into a company that would have been able to take on MTN and Airtel in the race to capture subscribers. They had recruited a young dynamic workforce that infused new ideas into the company . . . . now Sata whats to bring back a bunch of aging pensioners who will sink the company in a matter of months. If anyone in government has a brain between their ears they will find another investor to take over the running of the company.
      

  3. What a load of rubbish!!!! Zamtel was filled to overflowing with unqualified lazy relatives of people in management. . . .watch now as Zamtel goes down the toilet from which lapGreen dragged it. For all their faults LapGreen turned around what was a bankrupt white elephant and turned it into a company that would have been able to take on MTN and Airtel in the race to capture subscribers. They had recruited a young dynamic workforce that infused new ideas into the company . . . . now Sata wants to bring back a bunch of aging pensioners who will sink the company in a matter of months. If anyone in government has a brain between their ears they will find another investor to take over the running of the company.
      

  4. Forward ever. This idea of recycling everywhere will just take us into a deep hole. Lets look at the available skills that require deployment. After all, those old guards don’t realize telephone wires have been replaced by WiFi and Fibre Optic GbE technology!!! Spare us the nonsense of using Jurassic relics to blunder into the future!

    • DO YOU EVEN UNDESTAND WHAT YOU ARE RUNTING. WHAT IS WIFI AND WHAT IS OPTIC FIBRE?..HA HA HA U CANT EVEN DEFINE THESE….

  5. why not just advertise for vacancies if any so that youths can also have the chance? Zamtel collapsed because of nepotism. i hope govt wont start asking us taxpayers to cushion their misjudgement.

  6. While is is understandable that GRZ needs to lower unemployment, bringing back retired [and fully paid!] pensioners into Zamtel is not the way.
    This is just more ways to keep the youth unemployed.
    If they need more employees, let them hire a recruitment agency.

  7. Advice to our president Mr Micheal Chhilufya Sata.
    kindly create a position for Dr Guy Scort as Minister without portifolio and Nominate and Appoint Winter Kabinda Nationary Secretary of Partriotic Front (PF) as the new Vice President of the Repblic of Zambia.
    Thanku

  8. What is the business case for employing those people. Is there work that is not being done that they will come do? If not, then Zamtel will over-employ or become over-staffed. That’s not the best way to use resources.

    Let Zamtel invest their profits to grow the company so that that growth will in turn result in more employment. Politicians always kill parastatals. Zamtel may go down if PF doesnt handle it well.

  9. Explains why they have pulled the advertised jobs from the website! After all the efforts made to tuen things round at Zamtel.This govt is full of Jokers!!!

  10. We all want our jobs back (former Zimco, Indeco, memaco, Income Tax and Customs, all former parastatal organisations) ex-employees who were retired prematurely. What a joke!

  11. This exactly why parastatals fail. Employment is not a charitable cause. You employ people because you have a vacancy and they have a skill to offer at the available vacancy. You can’t just reemploy people because you want them employed. There is a wage bill to be borne by the company. This wage bill must match what the company is making. Zamtel before privatisation was choked with employees who would just sit and knit showels and sweaters.

  12. Therenegade or wat ever u call urself shud get ur facts right bfor u make comments that wil just expose how dull u a..in case u didnt know lapgreen retreanched everyone including degree holders like me and only reinganged a few plus MMDcaders..i guess u also dont know that lapgreen under paid the retrencies and only improved cellZ and not the rest of the services that zamtel offers..so mr dora matakos cader stop distrespecting ex zamtel employees who are even more educated and had working than u and do som researching befor u comment foolishly….Bravo shamenda thats the change we voted for

    • THATS THE SPIRIT BROTHER. THIS UNEDUCATED AND INEXPERIENCED GUY CANT INSULT THE SKILL AND QUALIFICATION THAT WAS IN ZAMTEL. THESE GUYS MUST LEARN TO BE QUICK TO LISTEN AND SLOW TO SPEAK

  13. Don’t reinstate those workers. It doesn’t work well to bring in people back to their old job, they never perform better, but worse.
    Same with bringing back Msiska to ZRA was the worst decision Sata made or allowed. ZRA could have been given to a foreigner from Europe or China.

  14. I previously posted on zamtel article stating that they will re-employ the 2300 employees that were retrenched. basically i was showing the pathway of zamtel. i will no longer waste time on pointing out presidential st.upidity but rather echo what i wrote. expanded workforce will divert money from reinvestment to paying salaries. afterall this workforce will come to do what 700 employing were doing well.. service will go back to normal( bad) and zamtel equipment will never be replaced and its debt will continue to rise. public funds will start being pumped back into zamtel and all expansions will halt. then finally someone will acknowledge the rubbish and will try and re-privatise it (well not PF obviously)

  15. #6 zamtel did not collapse because of neptism, it collapsed because gov was running it. i think less than 5% of parastatals are profitable world over

  16. So finally this is what i have been warning everyone about and it is going to happen 23 people on board all party cadres and now 2300 hundred useless employees. I can only laugh on this stupid act.

  17. We should also take into consideration that the 2000 employee they want to re-employ will demand the same salaries the current workers are getting which are defiitely higher than the pre-privatisation rate. This is what we always tell people when we demand for a degree holder to be president.

  18. What basis will used to re-engage ‘some’ ex-employees? This is another way of rewarding more party cadres. There’s no doubt Lap Green transformed the Zamtel into a performing company. The gains attained are now at risk with the recent board appointments and this announcement from the labour minister. You can’t run a company in a competitive industry using a party manifesto. I trust Mupanga does have a visiom but I doubt he will get the relevant support.

  19. This is the reason why government should not have any business in running private companies in the long term… politicians start making political decisions over business strategy. Please get that Wynter fella off the board he is just bringing confusion on the board.

  20. I have noticed a bunch of very very ignorant fellows who are beyond information. Balibika ubupula mumatwi. Facts: 1. Zamtel was not scrap 2. Zamtel workers grossly under paid 3. Zamtel workers qualified, Diplomas, Degrees and masters Retrenched. 4. Efficiency not exactly ,,other services neglected 5. Lapgreen excelld on Fibre Yabene (Read the Report Ba kapala) 6.Zamtel pension not paid up to now more than 1000 members waiting
    STILL MORE. NGAMWAFUMYA UBUPULA MUMATWI WE CAN TALK

  21. Iwe Chikamba Renegade stop insulting the Former Zamtel Employees as said by #14 Oly.Mind you those guys fell into that situation not bcoz they are dull,dull bcoz of some foolish MMD Bastards,and the stupid NUCW President Kaonga,and most of these guys are learnt people.Go and check today in zamtel you will see that those who remained,did so because they have connections,a good example is the Human Resource Offuicer by the name of Greggy Lungu retained his young brother Joseph who is not even qualified in katete office,a driver who has now become a Sales Retail Officer.And the former First lady Thandiwe’s cousin who was a Assistant Teklecomms Officer,and a Telephonist is in today’s Zamtel as a Team-Leader.Some people were retained dubiously of which youi stupid people are condemning

  22. Bravo PF..!That is why We voted you into power,we knew you will do it for Us.indeed you are a listenning Govt for the people.Fcku those who are against the Reinstatement of Former Zamtel Employees…!

  23. point of correction mr….lapgreen retreanced 2300 employed 700 on 2year contracts with huge salaries and 1500 as temperal workers to sell their tok tim who ended up dissappearing with the mony so were the logic in ther downsizing…pipo lik amon jere were getting over 60m plus 10% of the companys collections so mr write wat u know not just hear say…incase u also didnt know zamtel was running smothly until banda and dora decided to sell it..Mukela was then brought in to claim that zamtel had failed to run own its own and hence the need to privatise it…the government is very right by reinstating the retreached so that they can run the branches wich wer selfishly closed

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