The Zambia Union of Financial and Allied Workers has revealed that workers at First Alliance Bank have not received their salaries for over a year now.

ZUFIAW General Secretary Chingati Msiska told Journalists that the situation at First Alliance Bank has now reached desperate levels.

Mr Msiska has since appealed to the Ministry of Labour to intervene and protect the workers from further exploitation.
He warned that ZUFIAW is ready to declare a dispute with the bank management saying negotiations for improved conditions have dragged for a long time.

“What is happening at First Alliance is unacceptable. We want the Ministry of Labour to step in and put this to a stop. As a Union, we have been patient with management but our patience is now running thin,” Mr Msiska said.

But management at First Alliance Bank has refuted the allegations that workers have not been paid for over a year.

A Mr Mulambya who identified himself as the Human Resources Officer at the bank said ZUFIAW did not know what it was talking about.

“These are total lies, they don’t know what they are talking about. It’s not true,” he said.

17 COMMENTS

blabla November 20, 2013 At 7:32 am

I for one also find it difficult to believe that bank employees would go without pay for a whole year. I’m more inclined to believe the HR officer than ZUFIAW. Could it be that the latter is referring to the negotiations having dragged on for a year?!
chloroquin November 20, 2013 At 7:33 am

FAB is keeping a lot of billions for maureen mwanawasa just the interest they make by lending out that money weekly can sort out their salaries and all Gupta’s companies under astro holdings bank with FAB,how can he fail to pay?mwenye ni mwenye
St. Jude November 20, 2013 At 8:28 am

For lack of a better term, this story sounds “trash”. Banks are custodians of clients’ money and there is no way a bank can fail to pay its workers for one year. It’s impossible! How safe would depositors’ funds be? Further, banks are supervised by BOZ and any downward trend would be picked up immediately. THIS STORY IS FALSE. May be the union is saying workers have not received salary increments for one year. That we would understand. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR A FULLY FLEDGED BANK NOT TO PAY ITS WORKERS FOR ONE YEAR. We know the owners of the said bank may be misery, but they are supervised in accordance with the Banking and Financial Services Act!
Cycle Mata November 20, 2013 At 9:02 am

Those are pop-corns, please!!
The Bible says, leaders protect your subjects, i wonder were the 10 commandments referred to by some leader at some point come from…
The Matrix November 20, 2013 At 9:02 am

Reminds me of Zambian Watchdog.. this is not news. Lyashi lyapano isonde presented by George Mubanga.
- Maja The Elephant November 20, 2013 At 12:01 pm
  
  Kale ZWD. I haven’t been to that site for months due to poor journalism which is slowly creeping onto this site.
Paolo Di Canio November 20, 2013 At 9:41 am

What a story!!! Who do you think we are to be told such lies???

If that’s the case, then all the employees for that bank are thieves and need to be investigated. How can one go without pay for even a month? Because if I don’t get my salary after 2 days of my pay day, I will cry like hell.

This also applies to ba council who always say they have never gotten paid for 6 months but they always go for work and they don’t want to go on leave or resign.STOP SUCH NOSENSE or else we will investigate you.
africa November 20, 2013 At 9:42 am

Zambia even professionals are a let down rubbish in all areas.UNION?HR?
kapuli wa ng'ongo November 20, 2013 At 9:48 am

I recall sounding a warning about these 1 branch banks but people ignored me. Then I realised l, what the heck perhaps the bank owners see no need for expansion since they are happy with the 16 account holders they have. As long as they can meet the minimum statotury BOZ liquidity requirements, they can hold out.

In any case perhaps the 16 of bank accounts are huge depositors….Quality against Quantity I suppose.
Sweet Sugar November 20, 2013 At 9:49 am

Hi,
The story actually is a bit not clear on the salaries, the truth of the matter is that they have dragged on on negotiations since June last year. Whatis beeing said here is the dues from June( Increaments)
Sweet Sugar November 20, 2013 At 9:51 am

Low salaries
cindy November 20, 2013 At 10:59 am

Why not just declare it bankrupt if at all these allegations are true? Even if they were partly true which would indicate that this institute is in trouble and probably has even huge debts all over the place which has sustained it this far. Swallow your pride before you kill yourselves these things happen in the real world especially in the financial world it is normal, come out in the open and be helped. In zambia normal problems are deemed something else due to ignorance. Be real you will be serving yourselves from unnecessary problems. Let Government come in and sort this mess out.
wanzelu November 20, 2013 At 12:42 pm

It is not true that workers have not been paid for a year,however the truth is that their salaries are pathetic and the lowest in the industry
gigo November 20, 2013 At 12:57 pm

can they just improve the salaries of their workers, am an ex employee of the same institute and can confirm that the salaries are pathetic and management is very arrogant on the same. can the government move pls pls and save our brothers & sisters.
mwamba mutale November 20, 2013 At 3:15 pm

Ubufi ba mambala. How do yu expect them to look after clients money faithfully….and BOZ as a supervising bank can not allow such a situation
Family friend November 20, 2013 At 3:40 pm

Ba reporter is it monthly salary of salary increment? These two are different. Clarify please, A Bank not paying……..its not possible.
Chamulwanda November 21, 2013 At 7:18 am

What a useless pf union leader! He wants Mr Shamenda to bargain for him this failure it’s not like that stop telling lies.