Zambia: Labour Union/IPS MS Solidarity 2000-News/

Labour Union Declares Unemployment Level A Crisis

By Anthony Mukwita

LUSAKA, June 2000 (IPS)-Twenty five years ago Zambia boasted of having more jobs for its people than most countries in sub Saharan Africa. Today 89 percent of the labour force of 4.19 million are either unemployed or are in the informal sector--and only 11 percent are in formal employment.

The country is experiencing an acute labour problem and analysts have called on the government to declare the situation a 'disaster'. Analysts and concerned civil society members are blaming the situation on the ambitious radical economic recovery programme embarked on by the government of President Frederick Chiluba.

These concerns were aired at a national conference on 'poverty alleviation' involving Zambian civil society from across the country, hosted by the Danish Association for International Corporation, MS Zambia, here in the capital, in May.

Sylvester Tembo, secretary general of the union umbrella body, the Zambia Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) said, if no action is taken soon to reverse the trend, economic development will be but a pipe dream for Zambia for many years to come.

In a paper based on studies carried out by ZCTU, it was revealed that, apart from the fact that 89 percent of Zambia's most productive people are either unemployed or have joined the informal sector ranks, indications were that the situation may worsen before it becomes better.

Studies show that: "employment has been declining at an annual average of two percent since the government embarked on radical economic reform programmes" shortly after 1991. The fact that only 11 percent of the labour force was in formal employment ''should scare most right thinking Zambians'', according to Martin Kalungu-Banda, an activist who also lectures at the University of Zambia. ''The problem, however, is that Zambians have never really known a better pill in more than 20 years so they tend to accept whatever comes their way''.

Kalungu-Banda who has done extensive poverty alleviation work for various local and international Non Governmental Organisations added: "The statistics are representative of the reality on the ground and what the government and civil society immediately needs to do is come up with strategies and projects that will create jobs, wealth, and hope instead of letting this hopelessness prevail."

ZCTU boss, Tembo who blamed government policy, agreed. ''Even the privatisation programme embarked upon by the government has not created the needed jobs. Experience has shown us that jobs are usually lost in the privatisation programme.''

Studies conducted by the government's own ministry of finance and economic development contained in their Economic report of 1997 show that "an estimated 77, 000 workers were displaced between 1993 and 1996 (due to the recovery programme).''

The Zambian Federation of Employers working with an NGO called Future Search carried out yet another study that predicted that in two years between 1996-1998, the total number of displaced workers would rise to 90,000.

This is according to a labour and social security ministry Technical Report of 1997. Of the paltry 11 percent of Zambians that are in the formal sector, the union body fears that they are under-paid compared to their counterparts in the region.

Whereas a middle-level civil servant in Botswana was earning about 998 Pula (about 333 US dollars) in 1996, the Zambian counter-part was taking home a meagre K30, 000 or K50, 000 (about 45-70 US dollars) per month according to the government's own Prospects of Sustainable Human Development in Zambia report.

Since then, the perks for the Botswana counter-parts could have doubled or in fact trebled, while those for the Zambians have remained stagnant or even dropped according to civic leader, Inonge Wina who heads the Non Governmental Organisations Coordinating Committee (NGOCC).

Wina said latest studies show that: "salaries of most civil servants are way below 70 US dollars while the January 2000 food basket (prepared monthly by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection JCTR) shows that a family of six needs at least 95 US dollars to survive on the bare the necessities."

A case in point is that of doctors who on December 21 downed scalpels and stethoscopes because they earn less than 200 US dollars per month. The union has persistently called on the government to enact a Minimum Wage Act which shall take into account, the prevailing economic environment and not the whims of the employer.

Even President Frederick Chiluba, a former trade unionist himself, told the Zambian media recently that he would see to it that civil servants take home a minimum monthly wage of K200, 000, or 70 US dollars. Workers and their unions believe that the quest for a better living wage should start with the government committing itself to design: "and implementing a national employment policy aimed at job creation."

They believe that with only 11 percent of people in formal employment there was little chance of improving the economy because the government is losing out on collecting tax and revenue from some 89 percent of the labour force.

With this bleak economic scenario in place, commentators feel the government probably ought to take even more radical measures to reverse the situation than they took in introducing and implementing the economic recovery programme because like one unionist said: "Poverty is a national disaster in Zambia, we cannot afford anymore, the luxury of delaying action.''

While lots of blame is being heaped on the adjustment programme, the western donors feel Zambia has done better than other countries in the region in swiftly liberalising and removing the burden of taking care of business from government and transferring it to the private sector. They feel the 'few jobs' that have been lost shall be replaced in the near future when liberalisation hopefully begins to bear fruits.