. Chishimba
By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –
MOPANI Copper Mines (MCM) has officially notified labour unions that it is going ahead with laying off 4,300 miners amid economic challenges affecting its operations.
Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) president Nkole Chishimba announced yesterday at a joint press briefing with the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) and the United Mineworkers Union of Zambia (UMUZ).
Mr Chishimba said the decision to lay off the miners was arrived at after comprehensive consultations involving MCM and the union representatives.
“The position for the unions was that we were not going to allow any job cuts. We made a lot of consultations and finally came to a stage where it was clear that the parties had to get back to the table and we are still in talks with Mopani.
“We decided to engage in discussions aimed at mitigating the challenges of job cuts and so far, a lot of progress has been made and we are almost concluding with Mopani,” Mr Chishimba said.
According to information obtained by the Times, 1, 249 miners were exiting MCM after accepting to go on voluntary separation leaving 3, 051 who were to be laid off in an exercise set for Saturday.
