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ZAMBIA Sugar Company employees in Mazabuka have been awarded a 14 per cent pay rise across the board with effect from April 1.
National Union of Plantation and Agriculture Workers (NUPAW) president, Kalilakwenda Mudenda disclosed this in Mazabuka yesterday .
Mr Mudenda said his members were happy with the pay rise especially that other conditions of services such as education, housing and funeral grants have similarly been adjusted upwards.
He said Zambia Sugar Company management deserves to be commended for signing the collective agreement on improved conditions of service at a time when most companies had frozen salary increments due to the global economic crisis.
Mr Mudenda said what was more gratifying was that even casual workers would now be entitled to funeral grant which was previously not given to them.
He said NUPAW had earlier proposed a 20 per cent salary increment but managed to settle for 14 per cent although management had maintained that they could only afford a 10 per cent increment.
Meanwhile, Mr Mudenda has warned Kaleya Smallholders Company management to desist from engaging in activities that would incite workers to resort to industrial unrest.
He observed that the decision taken by management to withdraw the collective agreement signed with NUPAW despite serious opposition by the union and the ministry of Labour and Social Security would be met with stiff resistance by the workers.
He said it did not make sense for the board of directors to endorse the decision without taking into consideration the negative implication of their decision on production.
Mr Mudenda observed that permanent and temporary staff at Kaleya Smallholders Company were earning between K600,000 and K1,000,000 while staff in the same category who fall under the Zambia Federation of Employers were earning between K200,000 and K300,000 per month
He said morale among staff had dwindled since the decision was communicated to the union.
"We are ready to fight management to the bitter end. The board of directors does not have the interest of the company at heart because this decision will only slow production. Our members are not ready to have their salaries reduced and this is a timely warning to management to rethink their decision to foster industrial harmony," Mr Mudenda said.-ZANIS