(DAILY MAIL) State against mines job cuts
State against mines job cutsBy MUKULA MUKULA
MINISTER of Labour and Social Security, Ronald Mukuma, has advised investors in the mining sector against measures that will result in labour cuts and the imposition of a freeze on wage increments to make savings for payment of new mineral taxes. Mr Mukuma said in an interview yesterday in Kitwe that there was no justification for mine owners to think of reducing their workforce or imposing such a freeze because they still remained viable even after the introduction of the new taxes.
‘’The fact that they are supposed to pay the windfall tax does not mean that it has changed their financial status in anyway, they are still viable organisations. Therefore, there is no reason for them to reduce the labour force,’’ Mr Mukuma said.
The Non Ferrous Africa Mining Company (NFCA) last week said it would invest US$150 million in its west ore body on the Copperbelt but that salary increments may suffer next year.
At Mopani Copper Mine (MCM), tension among workers is running high following instructions allegedly given to personnel managers to identify areas where the mine could reduce the labour force to ameliorate the mineral taxes.
MCM Chief Services Officer, Passmore Hamukoma, declined to give details of the new measures.
However, he said management would consider the interests of Zambia.
Mr Mukuma said government’s priority at the moment was to reduce unemployment levels because that was the best way of reducing poverty.
‘’The excuse of tax for reduction of labour cannot be accepted by government.
They have to give another reason, not the reason of tax that government has introduced,’’ he said.
Mr Mukuma said government was extremely cautious when it arrived at the new tax figures because it took into consideration the fact that mines had to sustain their workforce and make reasonable profits.
He said the action government took was fair and in the interest of the country and that the mines should not create an impression that government was unjustified in introducing the new mineral taxes.
‘’We took all that into account and found that it was a fair action by the government.
They should not show a picture that government took this action without taking a lot of things into account,’’ Mr Mukuma said.
NFC deputy Chief Executive Officer Goa Xiang said last week that his company had no choice but to pay the new taxes except that it would have adverse effects on workers who expected an 18 to 20 per cent salary increment every year.
Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has unconditionally agreed to pay the new mineral and royalty taxes because of the high copper prices at the international market which justify government’s decision to increase the taxes.
KCM Resident Director, Deb Bandyopadhyay said last week that there was no point in taking government to court because the mineral and royalty taxes were justified by the copper prices at the international market.
Minister of Finance and National Planning Ng’andu Magande announced the new tax regime during the budget presentation in January.
Royalty tax has been pegged at three per cent from 0.3 per while company tax has been increased from 25 to 30 per cent.
Some mine owners threatened to take the government to court if it insisted on implementing the new tax regime, which they claim contradicted legally binding development agreements signed when purchasing the mines.
Labels: CASUALISATION, JOBS, LABOUR, MCM, MINING, NEOLIBERALISM
posted by MrK @ 7:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home