Operations at Kansanshi mine in Solwezi have started normalising following a 15 per cent salary increment that management has offered unionised workers.

A check at the mine by ZANIS this morning revealed that buses were seen taking miners into the mine plant while others were walking through the main gate going to work.

Kansanshi Mine Workers Union of Zambia branch chairperson Billy Mushoke confirmed in an interview that a few workers have reported for work today.

Mr. Mushoke however said negotiations among government, Mine Workers Union of Zambia, National Allied and Mine Workers Union and Kansanshi mine management are still going on in Lusaka.

And Deputy Commissioner of Police for North-western province, Hudson Namachila, said the situation at the mine plant was quiet and normal.

Mr. Namachila however said police are still keeping vigil along the Kansanshi road and the mine entrance.

Unionised workers at Kansanshi mine have been on strike since Thursday last week demanding among other things a salary increment of at least 30 per cent and the mine to employ on permanent and pensionable basis those miners that are on contracts.

Earlier, the mine workers were offered 13 per cent increment by management which they rejected.

ZANIS

THE Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) has appealed for calm among members over delayed negotiations for improved salaries and conditions of service.

CSAWUZ general secretary Joy Beene said in Lusaka yesterday that members should remain calm as the union was waiting for a response from the Government over submissions which were presented in January this year.

The union negotiating team submitted proposals to the Government in January but there has not been a response yet.

The current collective agreement will expire this monthend.

Mr Beene said there was mounting pressure from civil servants across the country who were anxious to know the latest on the negotiations.

He said workers were losing patience because under the law, the unions and the Government were supposed to commence and conclude negotiations within 90 days before the end of the current collective agreement.

” By law, we are supposed to commence and finish negotiations within 90 days before the end of the current collective agreement but that is not the case now,” he said.

He, however, appealed to members across the country to remain calm as the union would engage the Government about the delay.

On the calls by health workers for the Government to implement the 100 per cent salary increment, Mr Beene said if the State was going to do that, it would only be fair to award all civil servants “because all workers were equal.”
[Source: Times of Zambia]

THE African Nations Poverty Fund (ANPF) has pumped K75 billion into the launch of the Marketeers Business Expansion Revolving Fund aimed at fighting poverty in Zambia and other countries on the continent.

Fund governor Tresford Chomba said the funds to be invested during the first phase of the project, would benefit more than 50,000 marketeers in Lusaka, Ndola and Kitwe.

He said the marketeers were supposed to access a minimum of K5 million which was expected to be paid back within six months.

The exercise was set to kick-start in April this year.

Marketeers would be required to form groups of 5 to 10 in their market areas according to their already existing relationships to ensure the revolving funds were paid back on time and that the same could be reached out to many beneficiaries as soon as possible.

Mr Chomba said the essence of the facility was to enhance growth in the formal sector and supplement Government efforts in the promotion of local investment and productivity.

“It is evident that Government has put in place good economic policies aimed at supporting small and medium entrepreneurs accessing finance for their business expansion, but this has not benefited many marketeers, especially women and the youths,” Mr Chomba said.

He said his organisation wished to support Government and ensure youths and women fully benefited from the facility.

Apart from marketeers benefitting from the facility, ANPF would employ field officers particularly school leavers to implement the undertaking.

He said at least 700 people would be employed to undertake the task which was a powerful tool of job creation.

Mr Chomba said Zambians were hard working and needed support from the business community and civil society organisations as that should not be left for Government alone.

He called on financial lending institutions to consider revisiting the lending policies such as collateral which only favoured the rich in society.

“Interest rates should further be reduced to enable borrower’s access the loans,” he said.

[Times of Zambia]

While management has proposed two-year tenure, the unions want the agreement to last for 12 months.

Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) president Charles Mukuka confirmed the standoff in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday.

“The decision taken by management at Kansanshi and First Quantum Minerals (FQM) mining to seek court’s guidance in resolving the 2012 negotiations standoff will worsen the situation at the mines.

“As MUZ and NUMAW we strongly believe that this route taken by management will worsen the situation at Kansanshi and FQM mining.
“The union feels the best option is for management and the unions to seek further immediate interventions or mediation from Government,” Mr Mukuka said.

He said management of both Kansanshi and FQM proposed a two-year period to cover for the items that the parties agreed upon with them.

Mr Mukuka said the proposal was against the one year usual agreement but management have decided to declare a dispute on the item.

The MUZ president said the unions have so far engaged Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Labour Fackson Shamenda and Vice-President Guy Scott in trying to resolve the matter.

He said management at the two mines have remained adamant on the two-year tenure of the agreement.

Mr Mukuka said management at Kansanshi and FQM has allegedly displayed highest levels of dishonesty by bringing the tenure of agreement at the eleventh hour during the negotiations which the union rejected.

He said moving to a two-year period will disadvantage members as there will be no increment in 2013 because the merit of increment proposed by management will be determined by them.

Mr Mukuka said in national interest, the two parties should engage Government to ensure the agreement runs for one year and end the impasse.

He said the one-year period is applicable to all mining companies and allied employers throughout Zambia.

Miners at Kansanshi Copper and Gold Mine have been on strike, which entered its fourth day yesterday.
[Zambia Daily Mail]