MORE than 1,000 unionised employees at the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) have been dismissed with immediate effect following a four-day work stoppage leading to colossal financial losses, management has said.
Management says the work stoppage resulted in losses of up to US$600,000 and inconvenienced the travelling public.
The unionised TAZARA workers withdrew labour on Friday last week demanding monthly salaries for May, June, July and August, 2013.
TAZARA acting Managing Director Ronald Phiri said In a statement issued yesterday that the decision to withdraw labour was illegal as no dispute had been declared.
Mr Phiri assured that working capital was expected to be injected in the company, today, in order to help improve the financial capabilities of TAZARA.
“With immediate effect, 1,067 employees that opted to abandon the duties and have been reported as not working on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 August 2013 have been dismissed and their services are no longer required.
“The decision to withdraw labour was sudden and decided on by the leaders of the Tanzanian Railway Workers Union (TRAW) without declaring any dispute with management or following any procedures for going on strike. Which means the strike is illegal,” he said.
He accused the union leaders of shunning negotiations over the matter despite several attempts to call them to the negotiating table.
“The fact that workers have not been paid salaries dating back to May, in some cases, and June 2013 in other cases, is acknowledged. As management, we are fully aware that this situation has caused anxieties to the employees and their families,” he said.
He said the problems facing TAZARA were historical and had developed over a long period of time, due to factors such as lack of re-capitalisation and reinvestments in the railway company, managed by Zambia and Tanzania.
He said some negative factors had caused a slump in business to unsustainable levels.
“The shareholding governments are aware of this situation and have discussed plans, at the last two Council of Ministers’ meetings in June 2012 and February 2013, to ensure that TAZARA operations are improved and made sustainable through re-capitalisation.
“In the meantime, assurances have also been given that whilst a long-term solution to the re-capitalisation of TAZARA is being sought, the shareholding governments will provide the Authority with some working capital to sustain operations, including payment of all outstanding salary arrears,” he added.
He said due to the ‘uncompromising’ position taken by unionised workers, operations on the Tanzanian side had been paralysed as no cargo was moving in or out of Tanzania and all passenger trains had also been cancelled.
He said job vacancies would soon be re-advertised.
;(
This man in the picture does not deserve any kind words for even a dog will reason better under the situation. I wonder how he got the job in the first place if he cant understand the law which states that the employees must receive their salaries not later than the last day of the month. I don’t know if any body needs to declare a dispute for them to be paid their salaries. He should have been talking to his employees about the situation on regular basis and inform the about what he is doing to resolve this problem so that they are made to be part of the solution being sought and not lock his urgly useless face in office drinking coffee and working up from dreaming shouting “you are fired!” This ***** doesn’t know what it means to stay for that long without a salary let alone a job.
And you the administrator, why do you edit my words? Calling somebody an ***** is not an insult, it simply means he is a fool or nearly equivalent to a fool
Managing Director Ronald Phiri and the uinion must find a lasting sensible and mature solution to the problems surrounding TAZARA otherwise firing workers should be reversed immediately.You are working against the manifesto of the present govt just to remind you incase you think its Bwezani at plot one.
Wasosa mune efyo cilingile ukuba.
daz this mean that sum companies have not yet revised the minimum wage of their employees or wat
This Chipata man looks ugly
He should first look back as to why these workers have gone this far ,this is because they are hangry
They are killing our target projection as ZRL the port of Dar being one of our major export route. The Govt. should look into how opeartions may be assimilated so that it is turned into one corridor. We can not be suffering for poor Management yabambi!!! eish!
Honestly workers have not been paid since may, what did this man want them to do? Him no doubt he never missed his salary. Do employers really care about welfare of their workers. How were they expeected to put their best on an empty stomach. I wish some lawyer can come in and fight for the plight of these workers. why fire them….yes they errored but management was also wrong in not paying them all this time
The sacking of 1000 workers just at the stoke of a pen is not justifiable. To go unpaid for three months and fire people is bad management. Where does management take responsibility for failure to pay its workforce for three months? It would be understandable if everyone at TAZARA went without pay for the three months, but when its only once side of the equation, that smells of unfairness. These people withdrew their labour I guess after many attempts to reach a settlement with management, only with the promises not being honoured. If management valued the contributions of its work force which in monetary terms has been valued at $600 000 in the four days, they wouldn’t have let the matter festter to this level. If TAZARA had a business plan, they would source funds but may not be a…
I strongly feel and suggest that Managing Director Ronald Phiri be fired with immediate effect to pave way for better outcome of employees and to properly atticulate PF policies.
Scary Mask!
Brave man he is. Parading a bald head in this PF era is big no no. He may be up for the chop when our Great Leader sees this picture.
@ Mfumu,
What i find most disturbing is how one would fire a 1000 men and women without thinking of their grevancies. These people have been languishing with pennless jobs what more without? I wonder how they have survived for three months without salaries, who pays for rentals, school feels hospitalisation, food, clothes ect, in general i cant imagine their anger, yet someone just dismisses to give them an ear but fire them?
This is not just a 1000 people we are talking about it’s their immediate and extended families who benefit from their pay, we wonder why there is ruthless crime in our society, prostitution, diseases and so many outragious upheavals? Well there is our answer……. What a scary Zambian mask we have managed to make!
Folesheni abantu te mwa Rupiah muno you think you can play around with our my manifesto selako tubombeko Ronald Phiri with your dirty mind.Why are these pipo from eastern like Clive Chirwa,Ronald Phiri etc so dull to facilitate and implement what is outlined in our manifesto,morever iwe chi Phiri you are just acting what more if you are fully appointed kuti wantupisha chi colour waba he tall lay makaka.
If this company makes $600,000 in four days, how come they have failed to pay salaries for 4 months. We treat our own workforce like this and yet we want to complain about the Chinese mistreating our workforce. This country if full of hypocrites.
The problem with Tazara, is mostly caused by management failure. The two govts should seriosly look into this, we have talked time and again on this useless management..