‘Annual strikes are a sign of arrogant govt’

‘Annual strikes are a sign of arrogant govt’
Written by Mwila Chansa and Zumani Katasefa in Kitwe
Sunday, July 12, 2009 8:37:54 PM

FORMER ZCTU president Fackson Shamenda has observed that issuing threats in times of industrial disputes only shows that those that issue them have stopped reasoning.

And Shamenda said that it is morally incorrect for members of parliament to get their mid-term of gratuity when the country is facing serious problems.

Commenting on the recent strikes in the education and health sectors, Shamenda said annual strikes were a sign that there was an arrogant and insensitive government in place.

He observed that it was sad that the country had continued experiencing labour unrest year-in and out adding that the trend was retrogressive.

"If it is an industry and then you have a strike, it means that there is incompetent management because if you look at the definition of management, a manager is defined as a person who gives direction in any organisation," he said.

Shamenda said all labour stakeholders fully understood the calendar of reviewing salaries and conditions of service and that if they could not learn from previous years' unrest, then there was a problem.

"If you have an accident once, you should be able to learn from that accident. If you have an accident the second time, you should be able to say 'then it was a coincident', the third time you have an accident, then it means you are a very foolish man. You are supposed to have learnt from the two accidents that you had," he said.

"So I think those who are in authority should have learnt from the difficulties they had before. We could have saved a lot of lives, it is criminal what has transpired," he said.

And Shamenda said those that resorted to threats had stopped reasoning.

He said intimidation should not be tolerated in a democratic society.

"Leaders are supposed to reason with people and not to start threatening them. For example in a house, where you find a father is always threatening children, they become indisciplined," said Shamenda.

"In the same vein in a home where the husband is always beating up the wife, there is always a problem because indiscipline crops in.

Featuring on Face to Face with the Community programme on Radio Icengelo in Kitwe yesterday, Shamenda said it was morally incorrect for parliamentarians to benefit at the expense of others.

"I feel it is a matter of whether it is morally correct given the environment we are in, most cases gratuity is supposed to be paid at end of the term," he said.

"You cannot say we do not have resources meanwhile you are living like people with resources, resources should not only be available for the few," he said.

He said many people on the ground were of the view that payment of mid term gratuity should be deferred.

"Even if this is law or condition, the views of our people should be represented first," he said.

Shamenda said political leaders were in their positions for their interest.

He appealed to political leaders to provide the necessary leadership.

Citizens Forum executive director Simon Kabanda said paying parliamentarians their mid-term gratuity was not constitutional.

"Article 124, clause 3 talks about pension. Article 42 talks about the gratuity for the President, article 124 talks about benefits for the public workers," he said.

Kabanda said the K420 million each of the members of parliament would get as mid-term gratuity would be getting is too much for a single individual.

He wondered what was so special about parliamentarians getting their mid-term gratuity when so many people had not gotten their pensions.