There is growing anxiety among miners on the Copperbelt following an announcement that there will job losses from the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
The miners have said that President Michael Sata, the man of action must travel to the Copperbelt to address the miners and address the workers’ concerns.
During separate interviews from the Copperbelt, the miners have said that the upcoming job losses was negating the Patrotic Front (PF) promise to provide job security.
The reaction from the miners comes after the KCM announced its intentions to terminate employment of 2,000 miners from the current workforce 8,263.
The mining firm said the price of copper on the world market had declined by 22 per cent the last year and macroeconomic trends showed that the trend would remain depressed, prompting the decision to cut down on workforce to avoid losses.
Head of public relations Joy Sata said other key costs such as labour and electricity had been increasing constantly and substantially.
But despite the external conditions on the global market, miners on the Copperbelt say that they feel betrayed by the government, which had promised to maintain a stable economy and secure jobs for the miners.
James Kapambwe, a mine worker from Chingola said the government must assist KCM to secure the jobs because there would be widespread poverty if nothing was done.
He said the workers understood the need for KCM to cut the jobs, but it was the responsibility of government to intervene and safeguard its people’s interest.
“Some of the Members of Parliament for PF and ministers come from the Copperbelt. We want them to put their efforts and save the situation. Otherwise, there is a lot of anxiety among the miners,” he said.
Another miner, Danny Munsanje, said people in the area are extremely worried about the job cuts as there are not many other options for employment, while other business and services will feel the impact as well. He said the government must intervene because many people were going to suffer as a result of job losses.
Munsanje said job losses were expected in other mining companies because the challenges facing KCM were not exclusive.
“The problem why everyone is worried is that the problems given for the layoffs at KCM are also expected to confront other mines. When the price of copper drops on the international market and when the cost of electricity goes up, it is not KCM alone that suffers. So, the problem will go bigger than KCM. We expect bigger problems here. It will be hard to survive because the cost of living has gone up already in terms of mealie meal, electricity and shelter,” he said.
The KCM spokesperson Joy Sata said the mining firm would make every effort to assist redundant miners find new jobs, both on individual or collective levels as well as increase economic opportunities on the Copperbelt region and around its facilities. She said the miners would be allowed to continue working until the matter was resolved amicably with government and other stakeholders.
And Labour Minister Fackson Shamenda has banned the unons for miners, KCM and all government representatives from commenting on the impending job losses.
He said in an interview that it was premature to comment on the matter because KCM did not exhaust all the stages of negotiating the job losses.
“KCM should have consulted the union and the whole channel needed to lay off workers was not followed,” he said.
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