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12 March, 2007
Two short strikes in Zambia’s copper belt ended early in March with assurances from managers that miners’ grievances would be addressed. On 7 March, a seven-day strike by 1,000 miners at Luanshya Copper Mines ended with the company pledging to ICEM affiliate Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) that it would rescind its threat to sack strike leaders, and engage in earnest wage talks with the union.
Another strike at the Mufulira and Nkana mines of Mopani Copper, owned by Swiss Glencore International and First Quantum Minerals of Canada, started on 1 March and ended two days later when Mopani’s 7,000 miners began returning to work. MUZ entered bargaining there with the company and secured an 18% wage increase for miners.
At Luanshya, owned by J&W Investment Group Ltd., miners marched to the offices of the company on 1 March after they received their February salaries. MUZ President Rayford Mbulo said management had threatened to dismiss strike leaders and other miners. He asserted that Luanshya managers had stated on five occasions that they were not willing to accept miners’ demands, despite workers meeting all the companies set production goals.
“Management should not just be issuing threats of dismissing workers, but should take time to reflect on (workers’) actions,” said Mbulo to the Times of Zambia on the first day of the strike. He said the position of MUZ is that since copper prices have doubled over the past two years and the Luanshya mine was at peak production, it was only fair that miners were appropriately rewarded.
Workers at Luanshya earn as little as US$200 per month. They are seeking a fair wage increase, in part, because they now pay for basic services, including water and electricity. Previously, the Zambian state mining company paid such expenses.
At Mopani, miners began returning to work on 3 March as an act of good faith that negotiations would succeed. The strike did force the company to increase its wage offer from 16% to 18%.