Government has held a tripartite meeting with the Zambia Federation of Employers and other stakeholders to discuss the revision of the current K268, 000 (USD $53) minimum wage per month for employees in the country.
Labour and Social Security Deputy Minister Simon, Kachimba said his ministry the tripartite meeting was successful.
Mr. Kachimba said all stakeholders in the issue of minimum wage will soon hold a technical meeting to address other issues related to minimum wage.
He told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today it was important that the minimum wage is revised soon.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kachimba has assured the labour force in the country that government would do what it can to better the lives of workers in the country.
He said government was concerned with the human resource, noting that workers were a means to boosting the economy of the country.[quote]
He said the role of government in the labour force was to level the playing field between the employers and the employees in the country.
Mr. Kachimba said government will continue to harmonize the employers and the human resource of any institution to ensure all players in the economy were treated well and respected.
He has also urged employers to adhere to the labour laws in the country, which he said were clear on how workers are supposed to be treated.
Mr. Kachimba said when workers are laid down they are back on the streets and later become the burden of the government.
He said government recognizes the fact that the human resources played an important role in the development of the economy.
Many employees in the country have bemoaned the low minimum wage which currently stands at K268, 000 (USD $53) per month.
ZANIS
Are house servants covered by these labour laws. Would someone educate me on this?
Good move because employers I think are getting away with a lot. #1 my question too
At least they are now trying to use their brains.
Hard to believe someone can survive on $53 a month! That’s not even peanuts, that’s nanos.
Its been long overdue…they are revising minimum wage only, what about other labour laws where employers (especially so called investors) are having a field day..
This is good news, its high time they started showing that they care about us
Few days I can see things start moving and changing in Zed…Life gona be fine one day for Zedian people, hope is there.
Yes this goes show how committed the MMD government committed to improving the lives of our people. Lets people not get excited though, but should realise that wages are an economic component that is dictated by supply and demand. The exchange of labour and wages take place at a high price or low price depending on the supply and demand of both sides of the equation. This is something that Our president has recognised and last week he urged Universities to produce high quality graduates whose skills can be exchanged at a high dollar value. Admittedly we have a challnge of highly supply of unskilled labour that fetches very little on the market and wages are not a moral issue #4 Mr Nina Chale. In the private sector, they are about what value a worker brings to the table.-profits
#4 its really hard to believe but then no politician cares about us civilians. They expect us to live in shanty compounds and even there u cannot survive on $53 coz min rent for a good 2roomed house is $44 per month what about food and other necessities? We do not even have a policy for Health Care which means if u are very sick, u have to stay at home and die coz u cannot affort to pay medication. Its a shame!!!!!!!!!
The minimum hourly wage here is 20 USD…and my people survive on 53 dollars a month…
I dont expect the govt to really bring it up to speed at a go but we NEED to see YOU THE GOVERNMENT SHOW US THE PEOPLE AN OPEN BOOK,know where our money is going, am sure we can understand, but really again buying a ride like you did for the bossman doesnt help us at all in understanding that YOUR civil servants should recieve a pathetic .22 scents an hour…its evil!
For comparison, the minimum wage (Mindestlohn) in Germany is about € 960 = K 4.8 million and they still feel that’s too low!
This just shows that Africa and Europe are not even worlds apart, they’re galaxies apart…
#11 & #10, I think you are being naive. Germany is Europe’s largest economy. Rent in Germany is not anywhere near what it costs in Zambia. Stop comparing apples to Oranges please. The cost of living in Europe is way higher than in Zambia. Please Context please context please context please and see where are are coming from
# 8 u started well, I disagree with your ending.The majority of the population of Zambia is Unskilled labour and those are producing offsprings who deserve to be educated.If u pay them $53 per month, u should expect the population of unskilled labour to be twice compared to skilled labour in the next 5years. There is high demand of unskilled labour in the Zamban market compared to skilled labour therefore its only fare to set a min wage so that investors do not take advange of us in our own country. If u talk of education, the rich are the ones that are being awarded scholarships, there are so many poor bright kids that scored excellent marks at grade 12 but cannot go to University due to funds. MMD has done more harm than good to our economy and its high time they pack and go….
MMD bootlicker your writting is nonsensical to say the least.and i will give you a specific example.go to oriental quarries .it is probably the fastest growing company in zambia.among other things they make cement .so to your simple argument the make billions of kwacha .the raw material is in the quarry in the backyard.see how much the labourers get,going by ur argument of how much profit they bring on the table.the process is is as much labour intensive as mechanical.the issue of a proper minimum wage in zambia is long overdue.people ur people cannot survive on 53dollars.the least u can do is shut up and let someone take people out of slavery.but like always i dont see anything coming out of this.to me it is lip service.hard luck guys
#13 on schoolaships I 100% agree with you. Its very unfair and a terrible shame. Somethings needs to be done about this too
#1.,and #2. Even domestic workers are supposed to be covered by this law. Unfortunately, its difficult to enforce this because most domestic workers are ignorant about this. I would implore you to sensitise them and perhaps even form an organisation specifically for them to collectively bargain for their interests. Domestic workers are unfortunately, some of the most exploited and ignored groups in Zambia.
#13 You have valid points on education, but lets us not get mistaken here. Investors are not coming to Zambia to do us a favour and get our people out of poverty. That to them is a secondary goal. Their primary go of coming to Zambia is to make money. Having set that record straight, it is the responsibility of the government to make sure that it educates its population so that Investors find it expensive to just get raw materials in Zambia and use skilled labour in their country, but use skilled labour in our country to produce goods that fetch more on the markets and these benefits will trickle down to wages. In MMD we have realised the importance of giving equal opportunity to everyone the way UNIP did and many of our leaders are beneficiaries to that. Just watch the space
#14 That sounds to me like an issue of over supply of labour in that industry. And if they are making as much money as you claim ..why not organise yourself and enter that business sector and provide competition to the company you mentioned. If you just paid 50% of what they are paying am sure they will lose all their labour force to your company and the millions will pour into your pockets ..this is the type of free market economy that as MMD we uphold. I think you have spotted a great opportunity under your nose. Take advantage of it.
# 17 Iam glad you do realise that investors come to reap. Only if you could advise your leaders about the same. If investors come here to reap profits we also need to reap from them hence need laws that ensure we end up with a win win situation. No capital flight. Increase With Holding Tax on Management fees to 40%, ensure that everyone doing business in Zambia banks 80% of their sales revenue in Zambia. Like you are doing increase the minimum wage.
Ba MMD chief bootlicker lets be objective when debating national issues and not let anyone be blinded by political affiliation.We know the food basket cost in Zed.These figuress are always in the media courtess of JCTR so the government has always known the minimum wage that a zambian worker needs to survive on per month.We start talking of demand and supply after the minimum has been met not from zero.Lets not defend things which even chaps in chibolya who have never stepped foot in a college can clearly see are wrong.
#13
Its so easy for you to make such baseless claims that the MMD has done ,ore harm than good to the Zambian economy. Back that statement up with facts. Its not get too carried away with our opposition. Its true the MMD may not be your average “knight in shinning amour,” but to say they’ve done more damage than gud is tantamount to carelessness and malice.
number 12 please stop cheating yourself and consoling yurself over your unperforming government. I have lived in Germany the past 6 years and you cannont compare the cost of living here and in Zambia. Living in Zmabia is extremely expensive. My 2bedroomed flat in Nyumba yanga costs K1,800,000 which I would pay the same for such a quality flat here. One Chicken here is Euro2.20 (about K14 pin) and how much does a chicken cost in Zambia. I buy all my Groceries including yorguts, plenty fruits and all what some people would consider luxury in a Zambian diet at 25 euros, when such groceries would cost millions of Kwachas if I were to buy them in Spar or shoprite. Food, clothing and fuel is by far more expensive in Zambia than in Germany. WILL YOU PLEASE STOP MISLEADING THE PEOPLE & just shut u
# 17MMD bootlicker…..MMD govt is the one that has created a huge population of unskilled labour. Our labour force was well paid during the time of KK unlike now.During the time of KK, our standard of education and living was excellent.Due to poor MMD policies, Investors are taking advantage of us and paying us slave salaries.Every private organation is profit oriented so do not misunderstand and say that investors should get us out of poverty……..that is not want I pointed out.The biggest mistake that our govt has done is not to set policies that favour us zambians against investors be it skilled or unskilled labour. The realisation of MMD has come a too late coz 3/4s of our population is uneducated due to your bad decisions MMD. You make us sick just get out of the state house….
#13 what more evidence do you need, I’m sure you are upto date with current affairs of ou country. Its been in the papers all these years starting from the time LPM became president. How much public funds has been misused in the name of fighting corruption? What has been done to improve education, Health standard etc?? I dont think our country is running at a loss for MMD not to make improvements from the time KK left power. In short there is too much misuse of funds and lack of goals which will benefit us.Its all about making themselves rich what a selfish way to to do things….I do not belong to any party nor support any politician in particular this is my option based on what has been happening………….
#22 You and me are not in Zambia, but let the people on the ground tell us. I travel to Zambia frequently to buy the vegetable r.a.p.e. kapenta and fresh bream from soweto market. I can tell you I spend K500 per bundle of r.a.p.e vegetable. spinach here cost like R4 per bundle which is like 2pin. one snoeke fish cost here about R70. In Zambia I can buy 5 breams with that. These are hard numbers. Yes plots costs more in Zambia than here, but that is due to speculators, otherwise natural food in Zambia is cheap and stop buying vegetables from Spar and Shoprite. Go to Soweto market and support your local informal economy. It employs more people than Shoprite and Spar combined.
Ok I have finished my blogging time for today ..Am off to work ..everybody enjoy your afternoons. And good debating with you all. Bye for now
there should be NO minimum wage talks because labour is abundant and laws like this keep people out of work causing less skills availability. what is more benefiial for zambians is abolition of taxes say for anyone earning less than K10M to encourage people who have cash in hand to employ the likes of maids and gardeners. govt s abdicating its role of providing health and education infrastructure for the masses and want the public to employ at ”high” cost.
Its a good start lets see it being implemented then go further. Rome was not built in one day. so atleast the country is heading some where.
#1 No, house servants are not covered by the minimum wage. As for the whole concept of minimum wage I have a problem with it. What i am saying is wages should be driven by demand and supply and economic sense. If you say i must pay my driver say a minimum of K250 pin. and I can only aford K190 pin, then the only choice is not to have a driver. So is it better that I pay K190 pin or nothing. Now this applies to firms too. Say i have a furniture factory, and i pay my staff K400,00 and make reasonable profit. Then Government comes along pokes in its long nose and says I must pay at least K500,000. Being the good law abiding citizen that I am increase wages , but start running into losses. So three months down the line I close shop .
So , this would mean the result of the minimum wage will be a reductiion in employment or simply put loss of jobs and reduced economic activity. Then as we also put in place this laws or regulations we need to consider that countries like India and China thatare flooding he whole world with products have very poor conditions ( including wages) and higher productivity ( this could be calculated in say number of shirts made per person per day). So we could just be strangling ourrselves with these well intended ideas
MMD bootlicker wansekesha ati i buy kapenta kusoweto,now i understand who u are.you think a person ,sane,can just go to soweto to buy kapenta, a place so unsafe.iyo tulekala fwe bantu.soweto is fifty ks from where i live but to you it is cheaper for me to go there than in my immedaite shoprite or whatever.naleka.chachine ni pansaka ilyashi lisendwa ne chipuba
16. Bwezani. Thanks for the information.
Come to think of it, it is us the educated who afford to employ dometsic workers. And we certainly know their rights and about minimum wage even though themselves may not know. We all want good wages, but perhaps we can think about these poor house servants. I had 2 of them back home in those days. I dont think there was minimum wage back then. With this minimum wage, I could only afford one of them. But I suppose it would be better for that person. Here in teh UK, I cant even afford a domestic worker. I hear in RSA, domestic workers are covered.
Please lets give our domestic workers at least a minimum wage. Charity begins at home. May be the government should require all homes to register their house servant.
# 29, you dont close shop…that is bad business practice and lack of foresight and strategy. Just to help you….what you do is to down size your labour force to cut down the cost of production.
#32 yes in S.A they are covered and as some bloggers wrote that they are too ignorant, yes becouse most of them are not educated and deparation compromises their position and thats where GRZ should step in and stand for them as the same for every worker. ITS ONLY RIGHT!!!
While there is need to pay a decent minimum wage, we must be becarefull not to aggrevate the already low employment levels. My suggestion would be to vary it based on the perceived profitability of the employment sector concerned. Surely, mining can pay higher wages than agriculture, just like banking can pay better than shop keeping!
Tembwe @ 33. Thats could be true. This agrees with my point. You are reducing employment levels.. And in some cases you will discover that down sizing will still leave you in red. This is especially so in cases where labor is a major cost in production .
China has developed due to massive low wage labour. Companies in the West began to shift production to China in the 1990s. There was outcry as people lost Jobs in the UK, USA etc. But global market forces were too strong, companies had to survive. I know of one UK company that makes plastic bags for supermarkets. It simply uprooted all manufacturing facilities and set them up in China. The trend continued. China had the cheap labour, while the West had wealthy customers. The same Western companies that are in China producing goods for export back to the West. That’s global economy for you. Lower labour costs can be a competitive advantage between countries. Zed Govt should delicately balance things, and be strategic globally & regionally, while reviewing the minimum wage.
As bad as it look now, it may take ages to get to decent wages. Because even a 200% increase will not help. OK make it 1000% increment! It is salaries like these believe or not which leads to corruption. In Kenya for example, corruption accounts for 2/3 of every household budget. Maybe in Zed it is a modest 1/3.
Are indians employers also subjected this law.
Ohhh no, the proposed min wage should hav been K1.5m.with the budget cirlce changes anticipate prices of goods to shoot up in January dont forget the rooming fuel price.
#1. 2. 16. most of these domestic workers make verbal contracts with employers, and usually what is applied is a ‘gentleman’s agreement’. for example, a lady comes to me seeking a job as cook and i tell her okey i will be paying you 150pin, she bargains and we agree on 200pin. i agree with you people, domestic workers are exploited even by labour movement members. the labour movement has ignored these important people who cook for us, take good care of our houses and other jobs.
How about starting with raising the minimum wage to $1,- an hour, instead of $1,76 a day ($53 per month)?
No one can claim that is uncompetitive with the developed world. In the US, I think minimum wage is $5,- per hour (or close to it).
This should be done throughout SADC or even better, the AU, so no one can play off one country against another as a ‘more attractive investment destination’.
There is only one way to improve the economy, and that is to increase demand or wages.
” He has also urged employers to adhere to the labour laws in the country, which he said were clear on how workers are supposed to be treated. ”
Then it isn’t for a minister to ‘urge’ employers to abide by the law, it is for the police to arrest anyone who does not comply with the law. And for the courts to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
#42 I can see your point but what are the implications as regards inflation if the minimum wage was a dollar an hour?
YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS. A MINIMUM WAGE OF AROUND £20? SERIOUS JOKE
Just imagine us people who are working so Hard for mother zambia and only to be told a 3% salary increament
Lets wait and see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
44 Shimwalule, ” #42 I can see your point but what are the implications as regards inflation if the minimum wage was a dollar an hour? ”
In the short time, price would bump up a little, but that would only spur production. The neoliberals are big on incentivizing foreign corporations with low taxes – how about incentivizing farmers and merchants and other producers with higher prices for their goods? Higher prices not caused by a decrease in supply, but by an increase in demand? They would start supplying more goods, until the prices came back down to where they are today, and in the process, spur production, which will increase jobs and reduce unemployment, etc. It would have a multiplier effect on the economy.
We also need to prioritize local production over importation.
cant believe someone would earn about £22/month. seriously they need to change it.
They must think of enforcing the current one before even increasing it. Yes it needs to increased……
DELETED POSTER BANNED
Well, what MMD will realise soon the purchasing power of the Zambian community is vital for Zambia to advance. In the long term if they do not tackle the problem the Zambian people will not benefitting from the growth of the economy. The most important thing a caring govt should address is the welfare of their people and improving their living conditions. MMD are good at luring foreign investment but the revenue they collect does not even pay proper wages for basic proffessions such as health or education workers. Donors have been subsidising for Zambia in these sectors. If the future generation are not educated guess what they will not get the skilled jobs from the “investors”. Increase the wages of teachers, doctors and nurses so that they come back to work in Zambia.
#51 Mind the typo errors
Zambian trade union are filled with empty heads, Manufacturing businesses have closed and moved their production off shore because the import taxes to bring the raw materials in Zambia are too high.
Tell your Govt to remove or lower the taxes on raw materials to 2% raw materials are not a finished product and they create jobs.On minimum wage the least a worker from a house servant is K1 million
housing is expensive it is cheap to rent in Atlanta,GA than in Lusaka, food,transport and medical and then utilities eg phone,light.
# 51/52 Windfall tax
You seem to be in the galaxy of fantasy, Where is Zambia going to get the money to pay the doctors teachers and the nurses from, The Zambian treasury is not able to fund the national budget annually every year when the Zambian Govt comes up with a budget they do not have enough money to fund their budget they have to cry and beg like kids to the EU and the United States and the Chinese and Japan to help them meet their budget national obligations.Zambia needs leaders who will make tough decision make a budget and fund it without depending on these agreements which will enslave Zambia for the next 60 yrs.Zambia has too much pork in it’s budget if trimed Zambia will be free,Get rid of a big Govt eliminate useless positions e.g minister of Gender
#54 Apart from the galaxy of fantasy statement you have a valid point.
Mazed,
One thing needs to be clear. The Zambian government does not need ‘donor aid’. They only receive $600 million, while the mines take out $2.4 billion, and pay no taxes. All ‘donor aid’ and much more could be collected from the mines. The mines could easily pay $1200 million in taxes.
Then, there is the massive bloat in central government – money that should be spent directly at local government level to provide services. Zambia does not need 9 provincial ministries in the capital.
Then, hundreds of millions a year are lost from the budget because no one seems to be tracking government projects, and procurements.
So there is a lot of waste in government that could be going to financing services.
Aitaya uyu. Increase the wage to a reasonable figure taking into consideration the current and projected standard of living & GDP. Otherwise it may not make sense to increase it by 3% like KCM.
Landlords should also be visited to pay tax and contribute to the government basket, which is carried around by One and Only RB.
#57 Mr K. Spot on
All the money we need is already with the mines. Zambian Govt should shift efforts from begging donors to squeezing mines to drop our money on the table. The copper, cobalt and all the natural resources are ours. The nation must benefit.
What do opposition parties say about these things. Does the PACT say anything about mineral windfall gains tax? Any PF-UPND cadres on this blog? Please tell us you position on revenues from the mines. How can we vote for you if we dont know?
#1 Niwe Kaboyiii
59 UK-Zed Observer,
” What do opposition parties say about these things. Does the PACT say anything about mineral windfall gains tax? ”
Excellent point. I too would like to hear the PF-UPND have something to say about taxing the mines. The people must be presented with a clear choices between the parties.
I think it is up to the PF-UPND to make the next move and make a statement.
Zambia Problem Number 1 is leadership, Zambia has all it needs to support it’s people, The abundance of Land and all the minerals what is lacking are heads that think.Empty heads are everywhere in suits and ties driving expensive cars speaking English like the British and Americans old and young, Educated and some not so educated.Zambia is the promised land a land of milk and honey but @# have turned it into a land of misery
ubufi bweka bweka
True. This is long overdue. Concern: how much longer will it take before an agreement is reached? Further more, how much longer will it take before a revised wage will be implemented? Twacula fwebena Zeddie. Twapenga. Lu nyandile ahulu.