By RABECCA  CHIPANTA –
THE pending retrenchment of more 150 workers by Ndola Lime  has been moved to next year following Copperbelt Minister Bowman Lusambo’s intervention.
This follows a meeting between Lusambo and ZCCM-IH senior management led by their chief executive officer Pius Kasolo on Thursday.
Mr Lusambo said following reports of the planned retrenchments, he had engaged ZCCM-IH, the major shareholders in Ndola Lime Limited to understand the firm’s concerns over the operational status of the company.
He said that it was resolved during the meeting that the retrenchment date which was set for December, 31, 2016 be pushed to March or April 2017 to allow the parties involved prepare an acceptable retrenchment packages for the workers.
“As Government, we proposed that workers earmarked for retrenchment be paid their full benefits and in addition, the workers should be allocated pieces of land on which they can engage in productive activities such as farming,” he said.
Mr Lusambo said it was also resolved during the meeting that Ndola Lime management engages the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to avail details of the proposed retrenchment packages to ensure that the interests of  workers were fully protected.
During the meeting Dr Kasolo commended the approach Mr Lusambo took to engage the ZCCM-IH to find an amicable solution to the situation.
In the meeting, ZCCM-IH shared the company’s investment plans for Ndola Lime  which include the construction of a cement plant which would create over 3,000 jobs.
Mr Lusambo said the repositioning of the Ndola Lime  will ensure that Zambia continued to benefit from its vast natural resources found on the Copperbelt.
Earlier this month Ndola Lime management had written to the Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) informing them of plans to retrench 79 unionised workers and 77 non-unionnised employees.
According to a letter, Ndola Lime stated that the company was financially distressed and as such there was need to down-size the workforce in order to improve its operations and to optimise its performance.
The letter stated that the retrenchments would be effected on or about December 31, 2016.