The Chinese-owned Chambishi Copper Smelter (CCS) company in the northern copperbelt province of Zambia has fired all the firm’s 500 striking workers, the local press reported. The workers were served with letters of summary dismissal by management on Tuesday, following the riotous behaviour by the workers at the company premises earlier the same day. The workers had been on strike since Monday, demanding improved conditions of service. However, the situation worsened Tuesday when the workers became violent and damaged property worth millions of kwacha. According to the report, both CCS company Secretary Sun Chuanqi and the National Union of Mines and Allied Workers National Secretary Albert Mando confirmed that all the 500 workers who took part in the strike were fired. “This decision by management will affect our negotiations because how do we negotiate when our members have been given letters of summary dismissal,” Mando charged. But Chuanqi said while management did not take pleasure in dismissing the employees, it was important to send them a message that violence does not pay and that they have to do things according to the law. Panapress.
