Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) unionized workers countrywide have gone on strike demanding for improved conditions of service.
A check at the ZRA headquarters found workers outside their offices doing nothing.
The workers are demanding a 15% salary increment while management is only willing to offer them an 8% increment.
Meanwhile ZRA management has described the strike by the workers as unlawful and that it contravenes the existing collective agreement and negotiation procedures.
In a statement obtained by Qfm ZRA director research and planning Samuel Bwalya says employees are therefore expected to report for work and perform duties normally.
[pullquote]He has also dismissed accusations by management that the union invited Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata who visited the ZRA offices attracting attention from the striking workers.[/pullquote]
Dr Bwalya warns that those who will not oblige disciplinary actions will be taken on them in accordance with the ZRA grievance and disciplinary procedures code and the existing recognition agreement.
But Zambia Revenue Authority Workers’ union deputy general Secretary Shadreck Kalungu says the workers will not return to work until their demands are met.
He has also dismissed accusations by management that the union invited Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata who visited the ZRA offices attracting attention from the striking workers.
And earlier Labour and Social Security Minister Austin Liato said his ministry will immediately dispatch officers at the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) offices to verify the situation at the institution where workers are staging a sitting in protest demanding improved conditions of services.
Mr. Liato noted that ZRA is a strategic and sensitive institution in the country hence the need to resolve matters affecting the institution as quickly as possible.
He said government is always concerned with matters regarding workers welfare and would not relent in adhering to their demands.
The Minister was reacting to reports of a sit-in protest at the Zambia Revenue Authority in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today.
[pullquote]Mrs. Simukoko stated that ZRA management has over the years blocked workers at the institution from joining unions of their choice resulting in workers having no effective representation.[/pullquote]
And Zambia Union of Financial Institution Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) General Secretary Joyce Nonde Simukoko said the sitting in protest at ZRA has been self created by management at the institution.
Mrs. Simukoko stated that ZRA management has over the years blocked workers at the institution from joining unions of their choice resulting in workers having no effective representation.
She said workers at ZRA have always wanted to join ZUFIAW but management has been reluctant to give in to the demands of workers forcing them not to have any say regarding their conditions of service.
Mrs. Simukoko however revealed that ZUFIAW is currently consulting lawyers on the refusal by ZRA to allow workers to join unions of their own choice.
She said workers in the country have the right to belong to any union that they feel comfortable with adding that no one should impose a union on workers.
QFM
This is really something else in our Zambia- What can Liato do? This guys is just put on too much weight and is noy even doing his job- it is like he was not even at one time a Union Leader.
So, what is wrong if Sata went to see the workers?Well, maybe one day all will be fine-
ZRA workers sweat it out to collect revenue which is then misused by RB to brutalise Zambian citizens in Mufumbwe and to send ka chiluba on state-funded yapping missions in Luapula, while ZRA workers don’t even get a salary increment. A strike is the only way RB be buffoon can be mad to put two and two together.
Yeah if you can`t beat them then confuse them.Hope this action will make their grievances to be handled smoothly.:-?
This is waht I was alluding to.Liato is busy building aa lodge opposite my farm in Lusaka West. Instead of doing govt business and improving staff welfare, iye akali kuyika mu tuumba. Keep it on, Let the minister work. (its good for his health also)
@4To read : This is what i was alluding to (check thread -RB revokes appointment of Mangani)
The workers then explained their problems to Sata.
“Ubuchushi, we have suffered. We are on a go-slow. Maybe they are going to listen to us,” one of the workers complained. “They have given a target to raise K50 billion for campaigns in 2011.”source Post newspaper
Criticles is very a arrogant chap who treats his workers as doormats. He rashes to the media and announces he has exceeded target minus highlighting the challenges workers pass through. He paints a picture like all is well. 3 Workers are made to share one computer, operations vehicles are eratic, you have to recycle paper for printing, printers and copiers rarely have have toner, revenue house is dirt like its not a working place. The man is so detached from what is happening on the ground. Ask any employee the last time they saw, head or when he wrote to them. Nothing. He embarked on modernisation project which has brought nothing but confusion at the institution. Even workers don’t seem to know where he is driving them. Only him and his minions in the executive seem to know
I’ ve never seen a CEO who is so aloof to workers welfare.Is this the kind management you learnt in belgium? You do’nt communicate with you workers. The only place you know is ninth floor- Exec. floor. You rarely get to meet these chap. There are two camps in ZRA. It is a we-they situation Criticles thought he was better than Msiska. The first thing he did was to harangue his predecessor. He badmouthed Msiska portrayed him like a raw manager. He asked for more time and promised heaven on earth to workers. Alas sugar, tea and other bevarages were scrapped. Performance bonus removed, notches for annual salary increaments based on performance were removed. The highest salary increment he has given is 5%. Workers are denied right to belong to ZUFIAW
# 7& 8.Kapitao… I feel you man!!!!
It is not 15% workers are demanding for but 25%–ZRA get down to their nerves to collect revenue for our national treasury but they get far less than BOZ that only stores what ZRA collects and monitors inflation rates and 8% for the commissioners is good enough while for the lower grades it is no sense
ZAMBIA REVENUE AUTHORITY WORKERS DO NOT GET BACK TO WORK-WE SEE HOW RB WILL GET HIS MONEY FOR TRIPS AND YOU ZRA MANAGEMENT LET YOUR WORKERS JOIN A UNION OF THEIR CHOICE–WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
WE ARE GETTING ALL THE INFORMATION SLOWLY
Management doesnt want to listen to the people coz they get a lot of money,If someone gets more than 90 million,do u think he will have pity on his junior who gets 1.5 million.Ala abantu aba bakaso !!! Ama trips everyday,all those are allowances….Dont get back to work,until they listen to you !!!!
But ba management b zra nabo, they cant just give the poor souls the ka increment. What is there to argue about. 25% eyikoselefye, kwena nshamonako bakaitemwe. Bushe ba zra arent they more or less like BOZ. Peleni abantu ulupiya imwe, basoveni chabe
It is sad that RB only thinks about winning elections at the expense of the welfare of the workers. K50 Billion just for campaigns, then who benefits from all this? Workers in Zambia are suffering, when they ask for a living wage they are given something to survive on, while Rb”s first act as president was to increase his salary + all MP’s and ministers. ZRA wokers know how much they collect for the country and it pains to see that money being misused without improving their conditions of service. I think this govt. has its priorities upsidedown.
ZRA workers offer good Tax Accounting Advice to the public. The government needs to look into their problems.