Maravi

Govt sticks to minimum wage

Govt sticks to minimum wage
By Roy Habaalu and Kombe Chimpinde
Tue 17 July 2012, 14:50 CAT

THE government says it will not take kindly to threats of economic sabotage over the revised minimum wage. But the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) said implementation of the minimum wage was impromptu and had the potential to cause industrial unrest.

During a press briefing yesterday, information and broadcasting minister Kennedy Sakeni said the government would not allow any deliberate disregard of the law from those opposed to the decision. He said the government came into office on the basis of not only creating employment but making it meaningful.

Sakeni said the government was shocked at the negative reactions exhibited by some sections of society regarding the decision to revise the minimum wage upwards to mitigate workers' suffering.

He said the purpose of revising the minimum wage was to fulfil the PF's campaign promises to offer people decent wages for services they provided.

"The PF government is extremely shocked at the negative reactions exhibited by some sections of society regarding the decision to revive the minimum wage upwards to mitigate sufferings of our people. We have an open-door policy and we believe that threatening massive lay-offs or disregard of the law is not the solution. In the same regard, I wish to emphasise that this government will not take kindly to threats of economic sabotage or deliberate disregard of the law. Nonetheless, we shall determine all concerns that will come to our attention whether about the content or implementation mechanism of the revised minimum wages," Sakeni said.

He said the government was willing to discuss justified and warranted concerns on the issue.
Sakeni said the government expected to hear from genuine stakeholders in accordance with procedure as stipulated in statutory instrument number 45, 46 and 47.

And labour minister Fackson Shamenda said the government would not review the new minimum wage.

Speaking on Sunday night on ZNBC's The Interview programme, where he was appeared with Zambia Federation of Employers executive director Harrington Chibanda, Shamenda said he was consulting the Attorney General on how the law would be effectively implemented and punishment meted out on those that did not comply.

"The minister is not obliged to consult anybody to issue a Statutory Instrument Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment Chapter 276 of the Laws of Zambia (3)(1) on minimum wage. I am not going to take a cab memo to a tripartite council, honestly the government does not behave like that," Shamenda said.

"As far as I am concerned, this is non-negotiable. At the end of the five years Zambians are going to judge us, not Mr Chibanda. The people who have been elected, is the government of Mr Michael Sata. Chibanda should not have the illusions that government will start tabling cab memos with the federation of employers!"

Shamenda advised that individuals negatively affected by the order may, under the law, apply to the minister for a review of such an order in which a grace period would be given.

"The person involved, a person who runs 'kantemba' can come to my office to say 'these are my books minister. What I make is this much, I can't afford this, then my economists will look at it, to see how they can help. These are things that our friends in the ZFE should be discussing," he said.

Shamenda also said anyone opposing the minimum wage was ultimately opposing the President.
But Chibanda, in what became an argumentative discussion, said the increment was a political matter and that the government never consulted partners in the tripartite labour council.
He said some members of the federation had indicated that they would cut down on jobs because they could not afford the new wages.

Chibanda said the SI issued by the minister was in contravention of the Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment law, which required the minister to attest only to collective agreements in any sector that were above the minimum wage.

Chibanda said it was erroneous for the minister to prescribe a wage that would cut across all sectors without consultations with the stakeholders.

"The Zambia-Farm Employers do negotiate and I know currently they have a collective agreement which is less favourable than the minimum wage, can the minister say he engaged them?" he asked.

CCZ president Moses Mwale in a statement said the church mother body appreciated and acknowledged the urgency of the government to put more money in the pockets of people as well as its policy on better wages and better lives for the people but believed the decision, if implemented, might negatively affect the poor people in Zambia.

"Employers needed to be prepared for this drastic increase in their budgets. A prorated process would have helped the employers to adjust their budgets," he stated.

"It seems to us very unrealistic to backdate the effective date of this directive to 4th July 2012 when most employers were already implementing a budget agreed upon at the beginning of the year."
Mwale feared that instead of helping the poor people in whose name the pronouncement had been made, it would be detrimental to them.

"We see more people out of employment as employers may not be able to meet the sudden demand for such huge increases in their wage bill. It is also most likely that the cost of living for many Zambians will go up in an uncontrollable manner as employers panic to raise more money to increase wages. This will have an effect of increased inflation," Mwale stated.

"A time frame for implementation would have been more acceptable in order to give employers time to adjust and to put up their sale prices."

And ZCTU general secretary Roy Mwaba said there was need for social partners to seriously discuss the issue to resolve the matter in national interest.

He said the union was concerned with the current stand-off between Shamenda and the Zambia Federation of Employers over the increased minimum wage.

Labels: CCZ, MINIMUM WAGE

posted by MrK @ 11:17 PM