Zambia: Twelve KCM Miners Fired
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The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
16 July 2008
Posted to the web 16 July 2008
Ndola
TWELVE Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) workers were yesterday dismissed for allegedly disrupting work at the Nkana Integrated Business Unit (IBU) as other workers resumed work after a one-day go-slow.
The workers on Monday staged a protest over the 15 per cent pay rise reportedly awarded to them by management.
KCM spokesperson, Sam Equamo, confirmed that 12 workers have been dismissed for causing a disruption of work at the Nkana IBU on Monday.
Mr Equamo said the 12 were disciplined because they disrupted operations without even giving a chance to their union leaders to brief them on what had been negotiated for with management in the just-concluded talks.
Operations at Nkana Metallurgical plant were suspended on Monday, as a precautionary measure but that they had now resumed and production had normalised.
Mr Equamo said union officials had meanwhile continued briefing members on the outcome of the negotiations for a new collective agreement that were concluded last week.
The miners called off the sit-in after union officials from the Zambia Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) addressed them.
NUMAW president, Mundia Sikufele, said in an interview that the situation had returned to normal although he refused to give more details.
A Times of Zambia check at the company premises in Kitwe's Nkana west showed that the situation had slightly improved with only a handful of miners still milling around the loading bay where they had assembled the other day.
Police officers in riot gear were, however, seen keeping vigil.
Some miners talked to who sought anonymity confirmed resuming work although they said the situation was still unpredictable.
They said they were in the morning briefed by union officials from their respective sections of operations.
"The union officials held briefings with the miners in groups starting from the smelter to the refinery section," one of the miners said.
The affected miners, who were found outside the plant entrance and refused to disclose their names, said they have not been permitted to enter the plant and that their gate passes have been confiscated.
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They said some police officers picked them at midnight on Monday and were taken to the plant's offices where they were interrogated.
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Copyright © 2008 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
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