Maravi

Swap Spinning declares 1,500 workers redundant

Swap Spinning declares 1,500 workers redundant
Written by Abigail Chaponda in Ndola and Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Thursday, January 01, 2009 7:56:59 AM

ZAMBIA Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) Ndola district chairman Crispin Mikabo has disclosed that 1,500 workers at Swap Spinning Mills have been declared redundant.

And ZCTU Luanshya district vice-chairperson Alfred Chaminuka has said it is unjustifiable for ZAMEFA to also start laying off workers.

Mikabo, in an interview, advised President Rupiah Banda, who is expected to return from his 10-day holiday in Mfuwe today, to resolve job losses in companies.

He said the government should wake up and resolve the job losses as they were getting out of hand.

“The workers have not even been paid their November salaries and [Swap Spinning Mills] management has told them that they can only be given their money when the company is sold together with all the assets .

The job losses issue is getting out of hand and the President should personally come in. This has now become a trend where everyday workers are declared redundant,” he said. “Out of the 1,500 workers, 900 are causal workers and 600 are permanent workers.”

He said the government should come up with measures to ensure that workers who were declared redundant by their companies were given their salaries before they were given their benefits.

Mikabo also said the government should seriously talk to investors to serve their workers with notice before they were declared redundant.

And a visit at Swap Spinning Mills plant in Ndola revealed that no activities were taking place while the company’s human resources manager refused to comment and referred all queries to Christopher Mulenga of Grand Thornton who demanded for a press query.

Meanwhile, Chaminuka said reports reaching him were that ZAMEFA had so far laid off between 18 and 20 people and that the numbers were likely to increase.

“Now, what is this?” Chaminuka asked. “When these people were advised to be buying Copper from the London Copper Market, they complained that it was expensive and when the copper was expensive, they were still in production, now that the price of copper has fallen, why do they want to start laying off workers?

This is when they are supposed to make profits.” Chaminuka said he did not see sense in ZAMEFA laying off workers because they were supposed to be rejoicing that the copper prices had fallen.

He accused ZAMEFA of breaching the contracts of the people it had allegedly laid off and that they had not even been paid their benefits in full.

Chaminuka said most companies were now taking advantage of the global economic crisis by laying off workers, saying this was not right.

“Luanshya has already been hit through job losses in the mines so we feel ZAMEFA should be able to sustain a few employees,” said Chaminuka.

Efforts to get a comment from ZAMEFA authorities failed by press time.

Labels: JOBLOSSES, MANUFACTURING, MILLERS

posted by MrK @ 7:58 AM