Former Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane in the MMD has asked the ruling PF government to withdraw the Statutory Instrument on the revised minimum wage and engage in negotiations.
The imposed law has triggered countrywide labour disputes prompting riots which in some cases have resulted in arrests or deaths as the case of the Chinses supervisor at Collum Coal Mine in Maamba last week.
Musokotwane says the revised minimum wage has the potential to negatively affect foreign investment in the country.
A Zambia court has since granted a body calling itself Zambia Federation of Employers an application for judicial review.
He says one of the factors for foreign investors is a low cost of labour adding that with the imposition of the high wages on employers, potential investors will hold their investment in Zambia on account of an expensive labour market.
The former cabinet minister says if the status quo continues, Zambia’s economic growth will stall as investors will shun the country.
He says the Patriotic Front government has failed to put money in people’s pockets but that they have resorted to imposing wages on employers as a way of empowering people.
Musokotwane has pointed out that the ongoing anger in the labour market which has resulted in protests by employers has been created by the PF government and needs an urgent solution.
Source: Qfm