By HELEN ZULU –
THE Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) says it is committed to sustaining industrial harmony to guarantee the country’s economic development.
ZNBS Board chairperson Goodwell Kapema said industrial harmony was a labour requirement that could not be over emphasised in any developing country.
Mr Kapema said during the signing ceremony of a collective agreement between ZNBS and the Zambia Union of Financial institutions and Allied workers (ZUFIAW) in Lusaka on Thursday last week.
Mr Kapema said there was need for employers in the country to pay employees handsomely to guarantee high productivity and mass production.
“Industrial harmony is a labour requirement that cannot be over emphasised in any developing economy.
This will entail that we keep a well motivated and productive workforce that will work extra hard to maximise profits and minimise unnecessary costs,” he said.
Mr Kapema said it was imperative to ensure that employees were compensated for the work they do to guarantee the economic growth of any organisation.
“It is imperative to ensure that employees are compensated for the work they do to guarantee the growth of the organisation.
The process of concluding the negotiations took two years, Iam happy that the two parties have reached an agreement,” he said.
ZNBS and ZUFIAW agreed to implement the new salary and grading structure in order to re-align salaries into the new grades and consequently resolve the challenges of salary discrepancies and anomalies.
Mr Kapema said the two parties agreed to discontinue a condition of service called long-term gratuity which posed a financial burden on the institution and also affected the unionised workers salaries and other conditions of service.
He said this had resulted in an increase of 24.47 per cent of the current wage bill for the unionised workers.
Mr Kapema said this would bring about industrial harmony and productivity in the society.
Speaking at the same function, ZUFIAW President Joseph Muma said even if the gratuity system had been done away with the management had committed itself to paying all the eligible workers their gratuity as soon as possible.
