Message Mar 10 Jan 2017 09:58

CNMC miners strike

Over five hundred miners at the Chinese owned CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines on the Copperbelt have gone on an indefinite work stoppage.



But Management through its spokesperson Sydney Chileya has described the strike action as premature saying the bargaining process for salaries is ongoing.



The miners downed tools and convened at the entrance of shaft number 28 following management’s decision to not offer them a pay rise.



Miners at CNMC Luanshya Copper mines have gone for three years without any pay hike insisting they will not return to work unless management awards them a 35 percent salary pay rise.



The miners through their representative Costa Mwisa are further demanding that their supplement allowance be increased by at least K400.



Both the Mine Workers Union of Zambia- MUZ and the National Union of Miners and Allied workers -NUMAW- has confirmed the work stoppage to ZNBC News.



NUMAW president James Chansa said the union has dispatched a team of senior officials to get full details of the work stoppage.



MUZ General Secretary Joseph Chewe added that the cost of living in the country is too high saying miners at LCM have sacrificed enough.