ZAMPOST workers in Livingstone yesterday closed the postal office in protest against non-payment of salaries for five months, paralysing operations of other institutions that operate from the institution. Meanwhile, Judiciary and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (JAWUZ) president Peter Mwale says the Ministry of Labour is very useless. A check by The Mast found some customers and tourists who intended to send parcels and Christmas Cards stranded.
National Union of Communication Workers president John Kangwa described the situation as a sad state of affairs.
In an interview, some workers who were found seated behind the Post Office said they would not open the institution for business until their grievances were attended to.
“We will not open the Post Office because if we do that, the government will never pay us. We are tired of being treated as second-class workers. This is no longer a slave era where the slaves were told never to question their masters. I also would love to believe that South Africans who worked for the apartheid government were never treated in this manner,” a worker said on condition of anonymity.
Another said the PF government leaders were busy accumulating millions of wealth at the expense of the poor workers.
“We are being utilised as conduit pipe for their illegal deals through which they amass billions of kwachas while we remain suffering. We have been very faithful by reporting for work as early as 06:00 hours but our sweat is not being appreciated. Enough is enough,” the worker said.
The Post Office in the tourist capital houses payment outlets for Zesco and the Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO) as well as offices for bailiffs but all these were closed out.
Many clients were greeted by a notice pasted at entrance reading: “Five months no salaries! No service-The ZAMPOST reality.”
Ministry of Transport and Communication permanent secretary Misheck Lungu on Wednesday said he was yet to receive a briefing from ZAMPOST management.
However, Engineer Lungu said he knew that Zampost had challenges paying salaries.
“Zampost pays salaries by itself, it receives a very small grant from government for transport…they have a boat in Mpulungu but that is not commensurate with the grant for general operations,” he said.
Engineer Lungu said Zamtel pays salaries from its internally generated resources and called for management to think outside the box to address the challenges the institution was going through.
“The Post Office is well placed to be a bank, to save the unsaved communities,” said Engineer Lungu.
But Mwale yesterday stated that it had become part of daily lives to see Zambian workers go for months without pay.
He noted that all union leaders, especially those in the mother body, were quiet.
“Surely there is something very wrong here,” Mwale stated.
“We have three mother bodies or national centres in Zambia and these are: Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Federation of Free Trade Unions in Zambia (FFTUZ), and Confederation of Trade Unions in Zambia (COTUZ). The reason we have these national centres is to deal with the challenges facing workers in different sector unions such as; National Housing Authority workers, Zampost Unionised Workers, Road Safety Agency Workers, Kabwe Council workers, and many more workers in Zambia who are currently going through untold suffering and misery.”
He wondered why union leaders have kept watching the situation get out of hand.
“Yet we don’t hear from our mother body union leaders call for the following: peaceful protests against these injustices, black days like, where all workers in Zambia we wear black attire on a particular day say Friday to show our displeasure, sitting in protest against non-payments of salaries for those affected like the situation with National Housing Authority and Zampost workers,” he stated.
Mwale stated that the unions had been silenced either by way of intimidation and, or the leaders were cowards and had been bought.
He stated that it was unbelievable and shocking to see how the once vibrant union movement in Zambia had become increasingly difficult to speak and fight for workers’ rights.
“Why do we fail to stand up and fight for workers who are not being paid salaries and other allowances on time? Does it mean that we are scared of being fired?” Mwale asked.
“Let us not fear to speak on behalf of the poor workers. I can assure all my fellow workers and union leaders that it is a calling from God, as long as we speak the truth and we genuinely speak on behalf of the poor, God of Israel will protect us. The wicked will definitely not succeed in their evil dealings, it is actually a blessing to defend the poor and the weak.”
Mwale advised union leaders not be worried about those in authority and management.
He stated that as long as union leaders were doing the right things, those in authority would fail to silence the voices of the poor.
“We must not dine and wine with them, we must not accept to be used against our fellow workers, let us demand justice from them on behalf of the poor workers. It is evil and immoral for any authority not to pay workers their salaries,” Mwale stated.
“We must not accept this nonsense as workers in Zambia, we have been taken for granted, every day that comes, we hear workers somewhere having not been paid their salaries and those in authority are quiet. The Ministry of Labour is very useless and workers have nowhere to go, so let us take it upon ourselves and deal with the problems as workers.”
He stated that the union leaders should speak now and bring to an end the untold suffering and misery of workers in Zambia.
“It is our right to do it,” stated Mwale.