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Government should not be jittery about workers - Chiyobe

Government should not be jittery about workers - Chiyobe
By Maluba Jere
Sun 11 Mar. 2012, 11:58 CAT

PRESIDENT Michael Sata should not be jittery about meeting workers' expectations, says a union leader.

Commenting on President Sata's warning to civil servants that his government would not condone strikes, Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) president Davy Chiyobe said the government should not be jittery because there was currently no indication that workers would go on strike as their negotiations were still ongoing.

He said President Sata's warning that the government would not condone strikes was untimely.

Chiyobe said anxieties among civil servants were normal seeing that their collective agreements were coming to an end on March 3.

"As Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia, our position is very clear which is that at the moment, there is no indication that our members will withdraw labour," Chiyobe said.

"This President Sata's warning comes from the ground that we are engaging them workers because their collective agreement which we signed ends on March 31, so the workers are very expectant to see the negotiations end. The anxieties are normal so the government should not be jittery."

He said it was worrying to see the President threaten workers in the manner he did when he was the workers' last line of appeal in an event that negotiations failed.

"The truth is that the President should be the last person in our line of defence. Say we have a problem on the ground and there is a stalemate, we need to look for political help but if he threatens us like that then where are we going to go?" asked Chiyobe.

"Yes we should not shift the negotiations to State House but he is our last hope when all fails. He is our channel of appeal. When all fails we rush to him, so let the President not come in too early and we will not go on strike. Yes he has fears that other leaders within the unions want to jeopardise him but what I can say is that our leadership is very new and we are focused on the politics of labour, ensuring what is best for our members. "

On President Sata's statement that the civil service was still full of MMD people that wanted to sabotage the government, Chiyobe said for President Sata to say that it means he had that information but said he should point out which leaders were trying to do that because it was not everyone.

During a swearing-in ceremony on Friday, President Sata warned civil servants that his government would not condone strikes.

President Sata said the civil service was still full of MMD members who wanted to sabotage the government.

He said those elements trying to frustrate his six-month-old government would not succeed because the PF had been in governance for a long time.

Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, CSAWUZ, LABOUR, MICHAEL SATA

posted by MrK @ 5:25 PM