The Ministry of Labour is not happy with the salary disparities at TAZARA, between Zambian and Tanzanian workers.
The Ministry has discovered that TAZARA workers on the Zambian side are underpaid, a situation which it says must be addressed.
The lowest-paid TAZARA worker on the Zambian side gets as low as 1-thousand 9-hundred kwacha, while their counterparts in Tanzania, are paid up to 3-thousand 3-hundred kwacha per month.
TAZARA management, the company’s Board of Directors and concerned workers’ unions, have since been tasked to meet within a month, to resolve the discrepancies.
This is contained in a letter of resolutions of a meeting, held at the Ministry of Labour on August 17, 2020, and signed by Labour Commissioner, Givens Muntengwa, and availed to ZANIS in Kapiri Mposhi.
And ZCTU General Secretary, Cosmas Mukuka has commended the Ministry of Labour for intervening by providing a roadmap to resolve the matter, which has been an outstanding grievance for TAZARA workers, since 2014.
Mr. Mukuka was speaking when he disseminated the resolutions of the meeting to the general meeting of TAZARA workers in Kapiri Mposhi.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mukuka has urged workers at TAZARA to be patient while management and the workers’ unions meet to negotiate and resolve the matter.
I don’t think the salaries are supposed to be worked out numerically. Each country must determine its salary visavis the cost ofliving
This is saddening. We are glad this has been picked up by the ministry. This party was voted in on the basis of ensuring the working class became prosperous and had equal opportunities. Thank you to the ministry for raising this. We will ensure an investigation is commissioned. Kz
Since FTJ left the labour movement we have never had any labour leader as effective as he was. The first thing current leaders do when they’re elected is to find a plot and start building. The next is to register a company and start looking for business from people they’re supposed to face during negotiations. Whoever wants to chew workers’ money forms a Union. Some even collect subscriptions from workers that aren’t their members. What’s the difference between being a member of MUZ or NUMAW, or UMUZ miners? Or ZNUT, or SESTUZ, or PETUZ, etc for teachers? It’s only Union leaders that benefit. So it’s shameful that it had to take the Ministry to notice these discrepancies. This puts GRZ in an awkward situation because it has sided with one party when it should be neutral. The…
Ayatollah – Most labour activists have been given political and govt jobs…some have been silenced with contracts..what can say? The likes of FTJ worked in the private sector like Atlas Copco.
Tz has a President who cares for the average man…check the minimum wage in TZ.
Exchange rate dummies
What about the money that gets stolen by selfish people in power?
Bakawalala with no shame.
Even our very own currency, the Kwacha, has given up.
Magufuli does not entertain corruption regardless who n that has resulted in TZ becoming a middle income country….aba nensu !
If Tazara in Zambia makes more money, then the workers need to be paid well. The production or services how much Zambian-Tazara makes is a key how much the workers can be compensated for the work they do. For instance, a bad tread has been created where City Council is paid by the government. The City councils are suppose to make more money than the government. To compare one country to another, many facts come into play.
DONT JUST COMPARE SALARIES FIR TAZARA WORKERS. WHAT ABOUT TEACHERS, DOCTORS, NURSES, POLICE OFFICERS ETC? ARE THEY THE SAME? OR IS IT BECAUSE TAZARA IS OWNED BY BOTH ZAMBIA AND TANZANIA? WHAT DOES THE MoU BETWEEN THESE TWO COUNTRIES SAY REGARDING SALARIES? DOES EACH COUNTRY PAY ITS OWN NATIONALS, OR EVERYONE GETS AN AGREED AMOUNT?
Tanzania has been working hard building its economy while Zambia has been doing the opposite. John Pombe Magufuli is a serious man whn it comes to statecraft. He always wants value for Tanzania’s money whn government spends money. Why should anyone be surprised? Work out relative inflation btwn Zambia and Tanzania on purchasing power basis and it will dawn on u how inadequate the Zambian leadership is.
You can’t equate a chakolwas’government and serious government of real of Tanzania.
PF government is not serious with workers’welfare. These are looters.
PF must go!
This matter can even be a topic for a graduate or postgraduate student project in economics and finance. Multinational companies and governments often hv to deal with this issue as they pay their international staff and diplomats in different capital cities. Some capital cities are very expensive to live in while others are comparatively cheap.
To the diasporans above claiming Tanzania is doing much better why haven’t you moved there if things are so good ? Why travel thousands of miles to Europe and America when you had option to move to Tanzania. Voetsek
It’s not the ministry of labour that discovered the disparity but the Unions that have fought battles with mgt.
We have the weakest labour ministry in the region if not in the work. Zambian employees are being exploited as the labour act is interpreted differently by how employers wants it to be. The Minister of labour plays a blind eye yet she is too aware of what is going on.