â€œYou'll Be Fired if You Refuseâ€ - Human Rights Watch

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34 th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: 212-290-4700 Fax: 212-736-1300 Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org A frica Division Daniel Bekele, Executive Director Rona Peligal, Deputy Director Aloys Habimana, Deputy Director Siphokazi Mthathi, South Africa Director Laetitia Bader, Researcher Maria Burnett, Senior Researcher Corinne Dufka, Senior Researcher Marianna Enamoneta, Associate Neela Ghoshal, Researcher Thomas Gilchrist, Assistant Researcher Eric Guttschuss, Researcher Charlene Harry, Research Assistant Leslie Haskell, Researcher Jehanne Henry, Senior Researcher Lindsey Hutchison, Associate Tiseke Kasambala, Senior Researcher Leslie Lefkow, Senior Researcher Lianna Merner, Associate Lewis Mudge, Researcher Ben Rawlence, Senior Researcher Lisa Rimli, Researcher Ida Sawyer, Researcher Carina Tertsakian, Senior Researcher Anneke Van Woudenberg, Senior Researcher Jamie Vernaelde, Associate Matthew Wells, Researcher A dvisory Committee Jonathan Fanton, Chair Daniel Bach Suliman Baldo Fareda Banda Innocent Chukwuma Wendy Keys Samuel Murumba Muna Ndulo Louis Marie Nindorera Peter Rosenblum John Ryle Nick Shaxson Darian Swig Arnold Tsunga L. Muthoni Wanyeki Michela Wrong Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth, Executive Director Michele Alexander, Deputy Executive Director, Development and Global Initiatives Carroll Bogert, Deputy Executive Director, External Relations Jan Egeland, Deputy Executive Director, Europe Iain Levine, Deputy Executive Director, Program Chuck Lustig, Deputy Executive Director, Operations Walid Ayoub, Information Technology Director Emma Daly, Communications Director Barbara Guglielmo, Finance and Administration Director Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy Director Babatunde Olugboji, Deputy Program Director Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel Tom Porteous, Deputy Program Director James Ross, Legal & Policy Director Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director Frances Sinha, Human Resources Director James F. Hoge, Jr., Chair Annex I: Letter to CNMC and Response September 16, 2011 Luo Tao General Manager, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee China Non Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation (CNMC) CNMC Building (North Tower), No. 10 Anding Road, Chaoyang District Beijing, China Fax: 010-84426699 Via e-mail: cnmc@cnmc.com.cn Re: Copper Mining Operations in Zambia Dear Mr. Luo: Human Rights Watch is an independent international organization that monitors human rights in more than 80 countries around the world. We are currently preparing a report on labor rights issues in the Zambian copper mining industry, focusing primarily on health and safety conditions, shift lengths, and the right to take part in union activities. Since 2010, we interviewed 143 miners in Zambia’s copper industry, including 95 miners from the four CNMC-owned copper operations (NFCA, China Luanshya Mine, Chambishi Copper Smelter, and Sino Metals); and 48 miners from other multinational copper operations. We also spoke with management representatives from the CNMC operations; officials from the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW); Zambian government officials, including from the Mines Safety Department; and medical professionals at Sino-Zam Friendship Hospital. Among the management representatives from the Chinese-owned mines, we spoke principally with Zambian nationals. Zambian members of management were asked if meetings could be arranged with a Chinese member of high-level management, but Human Rights Watch was told it would not be possible. Human Rights Watch made further attempts to interview Chinese managers, in Chinese, but Human Rights Watch, in all but a few cases, was denied access to the workers’ sites or refused interviews. We therefore write to inform you of our main findings and in hope that you can respond to questions raised below. Human Rights Watch takes no position on who should or should not invest in Zambia’s copper industry, but rather whether investors comply with domestic 99 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011
and international labor standards. We recognize the enormous investment that CNMC has made in Zambia: NFCA reopened a long dormant mine; CNMC’s purchase of Luanshya Mine kept it from closing; and Chambishi Copper Smelter is a state-of-the-art smelting operation. We also acknowledge the current expansion these companies are undertaking that will add even more jobs. Many of our interviewees expressed gratitude for this. However, many also complained about poor labor conditions. Below are some of our main findings. Health and Safety Practices Our findings show that the CNMC-run mines appear to have poor safety practices compared to other copper mining operations in Zambia, leading to unnecessary injuries and health problems. Miners at China Luanshya Mine, for example, described how when CNMC took over from the previous investor, the safety practices changed considerably for the worse. Members of the CNMC companies’ safety departments describe safety officers as having no authority over Chinese managers to prevent workers from working in areas that miners and safety officers consider to be unsafe. Miners told Human Rights Watch that if they refuse to work because of credible danger, the Chinese managers threaten to fire them. Such threats appear to have been acted on in several cases and, in others, workers have been marked “absent” on days they worked full shifts but considered a specific job too dangerous to continue. We documented instances where such practices have led directly to accidents, including rock falls, that have resulted in serious injuries, long-term health consequences, and even death. While the CNMC-run mines are not unique in suffering accidents, the safety practices appear worse than those in copper mining operations run by other multinationals, according to our interviews with miners at all of these mines. A related problem is the apparent deliberate practice at NFCA, CCS, and Sino Metals to underreport accidents to the Zambian government’s Mines Safety Department. Miners and safety officers who spoke to Human Rights Watch described being bribed and threatened by Chinese managers so as to not report accidents. While those interviewed said that deaths and other serious injuries were deemed impossible to hide, they provided strong information that CNMC-run companies have sought to cover up other injuries by paying off workers or threatening to fire people for reporting them. Miners who spoke to Human Rights Watch also said that NFCA and Sino Metals refuse to replace personal protective equipment (PPE) before the completion of their department’s timeframe elapses, even when the PPE is damaged sufficiently during work to pose risks of injury or health consequences. Miners at mines run by other multinationals described almost no difficulty in having their company replace PPE damaged during work, as did miners at NFCA’s sister company, China Luanshya Mine. A comparison to the other multinationals’ copper mines likewise shows that some PPE pieces, like respirators, are not provided to miners when they should be at NFCA and Sino Metals. Shift Lengths Our report will also highlight hours that miners must work at CNMC-run companies. At Sino Metals, some departments force workers to work 365 days a year, without a day off. Other departments of Sino Metals work 12-hour shifts, six days a week. At CCS, workers also work 12- “YOU’LL BE FIRED IF YOU REFUSE” 100
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Zambia “You’ll Be Fired if You
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Copyright © 2011 Human Rights Watc
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Company Safety Officers without Aut
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Summary Over the past decade, China
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Chinese-run Copper Mining Companies
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uling in MUZ’s favor on the estab
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Recommendations To the Government o
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Reward managers and safety inspecto
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them as having spoken to Human Righ
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I. Background China’s role in Afr
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[The Chinese government] supports c
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History of Zambia’s Copper Indust
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Copper prices rose steadily from 20
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for CNMC in 2003—13 years after t
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policeman. Although the police inve
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underground mining has more than do
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After Mwanawasa died in August 2008
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quickly requested that the company
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of us in planning has our own compu
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Economic, Social, and Cultural Righ
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problems. In some areas, they shoul
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A national-level official at the Mi
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
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Miners told Human Rights Watch that
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While Sino Metals appears to be the
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Casual Workers at Sino Metals: No P
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speak further, refuted that anyone
Page 56 and 57: Godwin Beene, permanent secretary i
Page 58 and 59: They have a safety officer in place
Page 60 and 61: frequent, that two to three a week
Page 62 and 63: empowered to refuse to continue wor
Page 64 and 65: injured in a 2009 accident, contras
Page 66 and 67: unsafe, don’t do it.’ If the mi
Page 68 and 69: Best Safety Practices in Zambia’s
Page 70 and 71: Deliberate Failure to Report Accide
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Page 74 and 75: Problem of Subcontractors at Konkol
Page 76 and 77: are also corruption issues, a serio
Page 78 and 79: Kateka also stressed that the under
Page 80 and 81: Physical Abuse by Chinese Superviso
Page 82 and 83: III. Hours and Overtime Across Zamb
Page 84 and 85: Overtime is supposed to be four hou
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Page 88 and 89: almost never paid, even when they w
Page 90 and 91: Even when it is not an emergency si
Page 92 and 93: IV. Anti-Union Activities If you do
Page 94 and 95: Sino Metals still does not allow us
Page 96 and 97: that once such a committee is estab
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Page 102 and 103: exercising or for the anticipated e
Page 104 and 105: V. Conclusion This report seeks to
Page 108 and 109: hour shifts, though generally only
Page 110 and 111: 收件人 : 人权观察非
Page 112 and 113: acknowledged by various parties. In
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Page 116 and 117: common practice in the mining indus
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Page 120 and 121: Annex II: Copper Price, 2001-2011 1
Page 122 and 123: 2009 Financial Summary for the MSD
Page 124 and 125: Annex IV: Wages in Chinese and Othe
Page 126 and 127: Prior to 2008, the differences in s
Page 128 and 129: Annex V: Salary Breakdown at Sino M
Page 130: H UMAN R I G H TS WATCH 350 Fifth A
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â€œYou'll Be Fired if You Refuseâ€ - Human Rights Watch