Maravi

(TIMES) RB warns employers

RB warns employers
By Times Reporter

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has warned that the Government will not tolerate the tendency where employers arbitrarily lay off workers and violate their rights under the guise of the global financial crisis.

The President said the current downturn should not be taken as an excuse to weaken workers rights but rather as an opportunity to reassess and extend full respect and effective implementation of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) declaration on fundamental principles.

Mr Banda said this in a speech read for him by Vice- President George Kunda during this year’s Labour Day celebrations in Lusaka at the Freedom statue. The theme was ‘Economic recovery through respect for worker’s rights, good governance and job security.’

“Economic recovery and diversification can only be realised if workers rights are respected. Workers’ rights and job security are essential elements in ensuring high productivity,” he said.

He said workers’ rights included the right to occupational safety and health, right to be heard before dismissal, right to go on leave including maternity, right to belong to a trade union of one’s choice and the right to collective bargaining.

Mr Banda said the Government had observed with concern the tendency by some employers to take advantage of the large supply of labour in the countr y to disregard the relevant labour laws and abuse the workers’ rights.

“It has also been observed that some employers engage in practices that undermine efforts aimed at promoting job security. Such practices include casualistion of labour and laying off workers as first option in cost reduction. Such acts shall not be tolerated,” he warned.

Mr Banda said to ensure job security in response to the new economic order, there was need to review Zambia’s labour laws.

He said the Government had embarked on the review of labour laws and urged Labour and Social Security Minister Austin Liato to engage the social partners with a view to setting the time frame for the completion of the review exercise.

The president said the most important lesson that could be drawn from the commemoration of Labour Day was unity of purpose.

He said it was the wish of the Government to see a united and strong work force capable of contributing immensely to national development even in the midst of the current global economic crisis.

He said the Zambian labour market was faced with the poor work culture saying there was need to develop a culture of hard work and dedication to duty.

Mr Banda said every worker in Zambia must put the interests of the country first and that only collective efforts towards high productivity would help turn the economy around for the benefit of all Zambians.

He urged all Zambian workers to embrace a culture of hard work, honesty and integrity.

He however commended the workers for their sacrifice to maintain industrial harmony and hard work in the past year despite the many challenges the country was faced with.

Mr Banda paid tribute to the labour leaders for their honest and constructive leadership even when they were under extreme pressure to make demands for their members despite the challenges.

Mr Banda said the effects of the global economic crisis had not been limited to the mining sector but had also affected the agriculture, tourism and manufacturing sectors because of the global decline in demand.

He said the economy had also experienced a rapid depreciation of the Kwacha and as a result, imported raw materials had become more expensive resulting in reduced production and increased cost of goods and services.

He said although other sectors had experienced significant impact, the impact on the financial sector had so far been less severe as compared to what was obtaining in others countries.

Mr Banda said in this years national Budget the Government had focused on implementing measures to address the job losses experienced and enable the recovery of the economy in the shortest possible time.

Mr Banda said since the mining sector presented the most urgent challenge; the Government had put in place specific measures to reduce the cost of mining operations.

He said given the current situation in the mining sector, the Government was considering the recommendation from the recently held national indaba, of putting in place a Taskforce to review the operations of the mining industry.

And Mr Kunda yesterday said he had taken note of all the valuable contributions from the workers and would relay the messages to President Banda.

Mr Kunda said the Government valued the relationship it had with both the employees and the employers.

He said both parties should embrace dialogue as a means of resolving problems in the sector.

Mr Liato said the ministry would in the next one year embark on labour law reforms and regulate the labour market to ensure that social dialogue was promoted among the workers, employers and the Government.

Mr Liato said labour inspections would be enhanced so as to mitigate occupational hazards.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, ILO, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:15 PM