FQM Zambia pay judgment as soon as June 27: unions

摘要

A judgment over an impasse between FirstnQuantum Minerals, its Zambian subsidiarynKansanshi Copper Mines and the country’s twonlargest mining unions over a 15% pay increasenawarded to workers in April could come onnWednesday, officials from both unions saidnMonday. The National Union of Miners andnAllied Workers and the Mineworkers Union ofnZambia returned to the Industrial RelationsnCourt in Ndola Monday with First Quantumnand Kansanshi Copper Mines to resolve thenimpasse. The case was adjourned in April andnthe court told the companies to go and consolidatentheir cases. The unions wanted the newncollective agreement to be one year, as hadnbeen the case in the past. First Quantum wantednthe deal to be two years. The unions objectednand conciliation has, so far, failed to resolventhe impasse. In accordance with Zambian labornlaws, the matter was referred to the IndustrialnRelations Court for a ruling. MUZ President,nCharles Mukuka, and Mundia Sikufele, NUMAW’snpresident, said they could not comment furthernon the matter while court proceedings continued.nBoth union leaders said they expected anjudgment Wednesday. The 15% awarded to thenminers has not yet been implemented, pendingnthe outcome of the case, Sikufele said. Thengovernment has told the warring parties thatnthis was a labor matter and it did not want to beninvolved. The workers went on a five-day strikenduring negotiations and Kansanshi, the largestncopper producer in Zambia, lost $25 million inncopper production as a result