By JAMES KUNDA –
OPERATIONS at Dangote Cement Company in Masaiti yesterday came to a standstill as more than 200 contracted workers at the firm protested over management’s decision to recruit new employees while sidelining old ones.
But Dangote management has refuted the allegations saying all workers at the company were recruited in line with the provisions of Zambian labour laws.

. Shamenda

Meanwhile, Labour and Social Security Minister Fackson Shamenda has directed the labour commissioner to investigate the happenings at the US$400 million cement manufacturing firm.
The 200 workers contracted from three engineering firms staged apeaceful demonstration from yesterday morning claiming that Dangote management had laid them off unconditionally after their participation during the construction phase of the plant from 2011.
The workers were engaged by Sinoma International Engineering, Rockseed Engineering and Ayoki Fabricon Limited, during the four-year construction phase.
Speaking on behalf of the over workers, Amis Banda said during construction, nearly 2,000 people were recruited.
“But now that the plant is ready for production, management has gone ahead to sideline more than 1,500 people retaining 200.
“We are skilled people and considering the magnitude of this plant, management should have at least reinstated a significant number to be deployed in various sections,” he said.
Mr Banda said having served the company for a longtime, management should have considered retaining some of the contracted workers on permanent basis.
He accused the company’s human resource office and the labour office of doing nothing to address their plight.
“We are also denied privileges like adequate allowances for transport and lunch while being forced to buy our protective clothing from the company, using part of the K900 monthly salary,” he said.
Dangote operations manager Anand Kameshwar said in a separate interview that management was committed to addressing the plight of every employee.
“We met the workers’ representatives, Senior Chief Chiwala and the District Commissioner of Masaiti to table all those concerns and as I speak to you, all pending issues have been attended to and the workers have resumed work,” he said.
Mr Kameshwar said Dangote was committed to ensuring that every Zambian benefitted from its investment in Zambia.
He said the plant was expected to commence full operations this month end and qualified Zambians would be recruited to fill strategic positions in the organisation.
Mr Shamenda on the other hand said he was going to ensure that the labour commissioner investigated the matter as Government was interested in industrial harmony.
Dangote has an installed capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes of cement per annum.