The newly-retrenched Zamtel workers have vowed to stage a protest if management at the company does not respond to their grievances about their separation packages.
The workers who met at the Zamtel headquaters building in Ndola yesterday said they would stage a protest if management did not respond to their grievances by today.
They complained to have received a raw deal from the sale of Zamtel to LapGreen Networks of Libya.
LapGreen Networks interim Chief Operations Officer Mukela Muyunda, who was Zamtel managing director, said he could not comment on the matter because by press time, he was in a meeting.
One of the workers, a Mr Chiyobwe said out of the 620 workers in Ndola, only about 50 have been paid in full.
He said it was unfortunate that the workers that had been paid were the ones that had been retained by the new management.
“The whole payment process is not transparent and is very selective because only about 50 have been paid and those are even the ones that the company has retained,” Mr Chiyobwe said.
He said that was not how the workers understood the agreement between LapGreen, the Government with the union.
[pullquote]“The whole payment process is not transparent and is very selective because only about 50 have been paid and those are even the ones that the company has retained,” Mr Chiyobwe said.[/pullquote]
Mr Chiyobwe said it had been three weeks since they were retrenched but that they had not been paid even if the contract stated that they would be paid within 24 hours of their retrenchment.
Another former employee, Violet Bwalya said the money that was being offered to the former employees was not enough.
Ms Bwalya said the new management did not follow the law in their calculation of the workers’ payments.
She said the workers had been retrenched and yet their separation packages were calculated as though they had opted for early retirement.
Because the payment system is that of early retirement, Ms Bwalya said some workers were going away with as little as K5 million.
Ms Bwalya said the management should work out the payments properly because the current payments were unfair to the former employees.
[ Times of Zambia ]
‘as little as K5Million’ god help us. Problem with the workers is that they had gotten Loans from almost every bank available and now priority is being given to recovery of these Loans and the expense of the livelihood of the retrenchees .MISPLACED PRIORITIES!
Correction in # 1’at the expense of the livelihood of the retrenchees’
Can those exparts who have been praising the sale of Zamtel explain to us on the claims in this story?
this is really selfish and stupid for this govt..Mutati said we shall never understand the slae of zamtel by RP capital..now you see the deal..?we shall make sure u pay RB and ur minions..
So what inpact will the protests have since they are no longer working there? Sorry to say but it seems these “retrenched” workers just got played. Time to move on lads.
There we go! Zambia politicians are retards
Surprise of the day!!!!!!
The TOZ gave these ex-Zamtel workers a voice!!!!!!
This is a total rip off!! The problem we have is that selfish interests or take the front role, whether it be govt officials, union representatives or even management itself. This “as long as I get what I want, the next guy can jump off a cliff and I will not give a damn” attitude is what is really killing this country. I’m sure well placed people knew how much some of these poor souls would go away with but since it did not concern them and their families, hell heck what ever!! They knew that benefits would be calculated based on the basic salaries but the union, the govt and management did not bother to look at this critically and improve on what the workers were getting. For them they had union allowances, or the cut from RP as govt or the basic salaries were good as management…
This is exactly what i was talking about. In my earlier blogs i said 2 or 3 yrs they would start protesting but this has been reduced to 3 weeks! May the lord have mercy on these people, k5m sure! A gentleman calculated approx. K100m or more would be paid for each but 5meter zoona. This is really bad, privatisation is facked up for sure, even if it is for a greater good eventually. I now understand why communist countries insist on their socialism principles but thats a topic for another day.
For how long have those getting tumaFIVE Milio served their former company and their positions? Could these satanical terminal benefits be as a result of indebtness? Im sure Chi Bwezani must be smiling.I can forsee ZESCO WORKERS to follow suit if RB comes back after 2011 polls.Therefore let us register in numbers so that we can block this from happening.To those who have lost jobs,just carry on with life.The Almighty God will redeem you.
ZESCO Limited managing director Ernest Mupyaya has said the recent electricity tariff increase is already producing results with the waiting list for new connections reducing from 8,000 to 3,000.
And Mupyaya has disclosed that Zesco is working with a consortium of banks to offer its potential customers, who have financial challenges, loans that will enable them to access electricity and pay back through monthly installments.
Appearing on the ZNBC’s Cultural Remodeling programme on Sunday night, Mupyaya said the recent tariff increase was showing positive results.
Can some one make sense out of this for me please
The Govt is to blame becoz this deal is not Different from the sale of mines and they have seen how the miners have suffered.
So the poor and innocent workers will suffer for nothing. RB should be very careful with FTJ’s advise,he is a destroyer.
Thats what we have been saying all along. Now we reap what we have sown and some of you who said this is good because they will buy house and invest-surely can you afford to get a house mu 5M? Or invest terminal benefits of this much? Gullibles!
K5 million!! I finish this amount on groceries on a single day. I understand your concerns. But am also reliably told that the amount ranges between K5million and K60 million depending on years of service. Both Government and ZAMTEL have no money. Please just spend the little you got wisely and move on.
De Ja VU @11. It doesnt get any worse than this. I have been following strikes in SA & you will see people who are normal doing something to change the intentions of the powers that be. For Zambia, we are as shishita as anyone can get.We are like whores who can be shagged for less than a dollar as long as you offer her a place to sleep & food for that night. When i was pa Zed, the tarrif increase is in effect but loadshedding has worsened. Whatever formula is being used in alliviating this cancer of energy shortage in SADCC this one will never work out.
Check out this article in The Post. Its saddening mwe. “Zamtel retrenchees query packages, accuse Rupiah of betrayal”
What is the protest all about? Is for paying them little money or for delaying! sorry they never saw this coming, they should have protested when they just heard about the sale of Zamtel.Its too late……..
The people in Authority are too selfish. I feel for those who have lost the Jobs. Only one thing is remaing, GOD is the only answer
11, Deja Vu you sound like a …. challenged fellow. What exactly don’t you understand?
these are times economist, veteran/senior shi.tzen/mwata become so quiet. comment you MMD henchmen kabili. is this zamtel issue a making of kaponyas or its your bululu RB ?
Let’s hear the other side before we open our vuvuzelas. Of course we understand that this is good news for the detractors, but don’t celebrate too early.
#18Ex-Zamtel- Giving loans to potential customers!!!!!!! How will these customers manage to repay the loans and running bills at the same time. @@@@@Challenged are we all@@@@@@Challenged?
Where are the MMD henchmen? Mwata,bootlicker,senior, LT and the list ends here.Muli kwisa bane! Those of us who are neutral, do comment on every issue. You always hibernet.
We ve being talking about this issue from the start. There are !diots like the Citizen on this blog and indeed in Zambia who are the rectum of this current govt. We are past the time for crying. Don’t think the guys don’t know what they are doing. They will sale anything and buy anything for their own good.
If a moron walk in my HOUSE and told me to sell my roof because it is leaking instead of finding ways to fix it and tells me he will borrow money on my behalf to buy me a airplane when I don’t even have a runway or bring so many strange women (who I’ve to pay 20 times more than a maid) to do the cooking instead of my wife,,,,,,,,,,,,if all I can do is sit back and cry, then I must be a low Grade Zambian. But a First Class Zambian will do something about it
con………..
First Class Zambian will do something about it
Zambian Airways thought it would be sorted out the next day, today Kafupi can laugh in our Faces. Ba Zamtel you won’t be treated any different cause it is the same greed that is working
Zambia is a country which have docile people. I may also add that it is a country that joys in the successes of foreigners. The zambians believe that as Zambians they cant function hence all key industries in the country have to be given to chinese and Libians to operate. Libya and china are reaping money in Zambia and investing that money in their countries while Zambians remain without jobs.
Zambians, is it true that we cant manage anything well? What about the same management of Zambians used in these foregin companies? How come the same zambians do well?
Please let us change the way we think, development will come to Zambia by ourselves , no foreigner will develop our country.
Any way as people are saying, May the Lord God help the poor people in Zambia.
Comment 25 Mboo, point accepted. Zambians are docile. One undeniable truth is that a foreigner is valued more than any Zambian. It is as if what foreigners, especially whites are made of make them inherently superior, intelligent, knowledgeable and rich. A foreigner can literally do anything they please without serious retribution. If a white is involved in a fight for instance with a black Zambian in which the white instigated, it is quite likely that the police would immediately assume the white man’s innocence and batter the other poor fellow before realising the truth.
Cont…Someone may want to deny it but its clear for all to see that Zambia has two worlds in it. One is where the blacks go about their daily business leading lives of mediocrity and disgruntlement. Another is a secret society of foreigners who live like gods, networking with another, toasting champagne and driving big business. Many of the government officials are in the pockets of the latter group. They are unaffected by any policy or regulation. Their access to gigantic contracts, land and business opportunities is a capitalist’s wet dream. The ease in which they lead their lives would compel any person in the world who is not of African descent to move to Zambia. To be a member of this untouchable elite one just needs to be anything but black. What is even more interesting is that…
Cont….What is even more interesting is that people of mixed race origin also fit into this group as they seek to distance themselves from the African blood that flows in their veins to be closer to the European side as it brings societal privileges. Someone like Barack Obama who is considered black in the USA would be characterised as “coloured” in Zambia and with special privileges. Enough for today. Good bye bloggers.
See RB and his cohorts have chosen to keep quiet about the underpayments. Lapgreen is providing the country with more destitutes than we can handle, thanx to RB. I hope people get wat they duly worked for!
People were paid based on the number of years worked and your salary. Todays newspaper indicates that A very SMALL PERCENTAGE of employees got the figure.
Employees get two months salart for each year worked and , which is about the norm. So if you earn k1,000,000 a month and you have worked for three years you get K6,000,000