No slave conditions, warns Labour Minister

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 10:52:36 +0000

By ANNIE ZULU

LABOUR MINISTER Joyce Nonde Simukoko has warned that Government will not tolerate employers subjecting workers to slavery working conditions.

Ms Simukoko noted that her ministry had been receiving lots of complaints of maltreatment of workers in their companies.

She told the Daily Nation in an interview that among the complaints received was casualisation, exploitation and low salaries.

“My ministry has continued to receive complaints from workers on how they are being mistreated and subjected to slavery working conditions by their employers.

This is a very sad situation, because despite measure that we have put in place such as the banning of casualisation, this has continued,” she said.

Ms Simukoko however, said the government had not gone to slumber in ensuring that workers’ rights were protected.

She said Government would take stern action against employers who had failed to adhere to the labour laws.  “Protecting workers is our job as a ministry, and workers’ rights are well stipulated in our constitution, therefore, Government will not condone the abuse of the rights of workers by the employers. We are still committed to ensuring that all workers in Zambia are protected.

“Let me warn all those employers who are till practicing casualisation to stop, because it is illegal. Casualisation has been banned in Zambia.

“Some employers indulge in the act of casualisation out of ignorance, however, that is not an excuse, employers must do the right thing. We are not going to tolerate that,” Ms Simukoko said. The minister also urged employers to stop abusing workers by paying the minimum wage but that they should pay wages that were proportionate to the amount of work given.

She said various companies should not pay poorly because of the low minimum wage requirements stipulated by law.

She said workers should be paid wages that reflect the amount of work they were asked to do.

“We cannot have companies giving minimum wage to workers who do a lot of work and in hazardous environments, when they have the capacity to pay more,” she said.