The Zambia Congress of Trade Union and its affiliates have formed a coalition with the Civil Society Organizations with a view to strengthening cooperation in representing workers’ interest in the country.
ZCTU Secretary General Cosmas Mukuka said trade unions will work in partnership with civil society organizations in areas of accountability, transparency and public participation in policy formulation processes relating to workers’ welfare.
He said the coalition of trade unions and civil society will help strengthen democratic governance because it will campaign for the common good on cross-cutting issues for the benefit of workers and society
“The ultimate aim of the collaboration is to strengthen political, social, economic, and financial governance in the country. Am glad to inform you that so far 14 civil society organizations have already come through to help advocate for the workers” he said.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Mukuka said this when he officially opened a one-day solidarity workshop aimed at identifying current social, economic and political issues affecting the workers in Ndola today.
Mr. Mukuka explained that this is not the first time the trade unions are working with civil society organizations in fighting for the betterment of the people.
“We have worked with the civil society in the past and it yielded good results”, he said.
He has urged unions on the Copperbelt and civil society organizations to select people who will actively participate in the program so that they can promote workers’ rights and the interest of members.
And Copperbelt University Academics Union (CBUAU) president Derrick Ntalasha said union leaders should be able to identify challenges that workers face so that they can easily resolve them.
Dr. Ntalasha added that unions should not segregate but should listen attentively to the concerns of the workers and help resolve the issues affecting them.
“If one worker is not satisfied then all workers will be equally affected”, he said.
UNIONS ?? GET RID OF THEM
JUST ASK THEM TO PUBLISH THE PERCENTAGE OF CONTRIBUTIONS GO ON THEIR TOP SALARIES WITH FRINGED BENIFITS AND VEHICLES
It seems the current crop of Union leaders don’t know what their mandate is. Industrial & Labour Relations matters aren’t for CSOs. The problem is that the Labour Movement is now being used as a springboard for leaders to either enter politics or become suppliers and contractors to the same employers whose employees they’re supposed to represent. This is what has compromised Unions. You now seek these useless alliances because of your failure to effectively and honestly represent workers. Tell me the difference between ZNUT, BETUZ, PROTUZ, PTUZ or that between MUZ, UMUZ, NUMAW etc in terms of conditions of service for their members. Now 1 employer has to deal with more than 1 Union for negotiations. It’s confusion and not progress