National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) has recommended to government on the need to implement a time frame policy that would discourage the would-be investors to easily pull out of the country.
NUMAW president, Mundia Sikufele, said that once the time frame policy is adopted, investors coming into the country particularly in the mining sector would not be running away whenever they felt like as the would-be investors would only be free to leave the country after a specified period.
Mr. Sikufele said in an interview with ZANIS that this would guarantee the job security of the Zambians.
He added that any investors who would intend to leave the country before the contract expired would have the assets forfeited among other things.
Mr. Sikufele said although the mining sector was greatly affected by the falling copper prices, that there was need for the interests of the Zambians to be protected whenever government is bargaining with the foreign investors.
He said the current job losses that the country is facing are as a result of the mine closures that did not only hinder individual progress but also impacted negatively on the country’s economic development.
Mr. Sikufele however said government was responding positively to the recommendations that the union had made.
He said government should involve the Union leaders whenever it signed agreements with investors so that unions are able to table their concerns and see to it that the interests of the Zambians are taken into consideration before deals are signed.
Other recommendations were that government should see to it that the foreign investors complied with the country’s labor laws as well as adopt a work culture that would not exploit the workers.
He also said that government should include health and safety policies in the agreement, which he said needed to be improved.
ZANIS/MP/MKM/ENDS.
Actually this would have been done ages ago. The government needs to readjust it’s policies with the decline in investment in the mines.
Keep on dreaming Mundia. Why would they even bother coming to a country like Zambia if that is what government is going to do? Who is interested in copper now anyway? Naya kuti waponta mayo!
Blank post! Nice! All I was saying keep on dreaming Mundia. Why would investors even come to Zambia if government did that and the post comes out blank! Looks like b e m b a is not allowed on LT any more. May be I should try T o n g a! lol!
At the moment, our leaders and indeed ourselves who put govt leaders in power are to blame for the way investors take us for granted. How do we tolerate investors who just want to reap huge profits but not willing to share the profits with us for providing the enabling environment
One thing i feel is not possible is involving the union when government is signing with the investors.That just cant work i dont think its a reality government is responsible enough to know whats good for their people. On that part of the union its unneccessary. But the important one is that of the restrictyion i think thats a good idea. I have put that in my book. But based on the idea of Bostwana. What the government of Bostwana has done is when an investor goes to invest in Bostwana they must build there own building to run the companies.So that if the investor decides to leave they leave the buildings for the government and companies find it difficult to leave Bostwana . develops
Running business seems to be too complex for GRZ. Look at Obama, the way he is taking on problems- head on- no politics of survival. You can be an economist but added to that you must be a person of sharp perception- not to just interpret what you learnt at university- remember those books you read were written by some one using his imagination. So you should also expand your horizons in order to come up with workable solutions. This what makes Magande to stand out and above mere theorist.