“You'll Be Fired if You Refuse” - Human Rights Watch

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“You’ll Be Fired if You Refuse”
Labor Abuses in Zambia’s Chinese State-owned Copper Mines
The past decade has seen burgeoning investment across Africa by private and state-run Chinese enterprises. This
report, based on three field missions to Zambia in November 2010 and July 2011 and interviews with 143 miners,
examines the labor practices of a Chinese state-owned enterprise in four copper mining operations in Zambia.
While Zambia’s copper miners welcome Chinese-run companies’ substantial investment and job creation, they
also encounter abusive employment conditions that violate national and international standards and fall short of
practices among the other multinationals operating in Zambia’s copper mining industry.
Miners at Chinese-run companies described consistently poor health and safety standards, including inadequate
ventilation that can lead to serious lung diseases, hours of work in excess of Zambian law, the failure to replace
workers’ damaged protective equipment, and routine threats of being fired should they refuse to work in unsafe
places. These practices, combined with the already dangerous nature of the work, cause injuries and other health
complications. Many of the labor practices in Zambia seem to be exported from China’s domestic mining industry,
with safety and health measures treated as irritating barriers to greater profits, rather than as good business
practices, both in the Chinese domestic mining industry and in Chinese-run mines in Zambia.
Primary responsibility for ensuring that Zambia’s copper mines operate in accordance with national and international
standards rests with the Zambian government, which has largely failed to enforce the country’s labor laws
and mining regulations. A September 20, 2011, presidential election brought to power longtime opposition
politician Michael Sata, who has long been critical of labor practices in Chinese-run companies.
Sata should now demonstrate that his rhetoric will be matched by action to protect workers’ rights. “You’ll Be
Fired if You Refuse” calls on the Sata government to swiftly address the inadequacies in Zambia’s Mines Safety
Department and greater penalize mining operations that violate safety regulations and other labor laws.
A Zambian does construction work at China
Luanshya Mine as a Chinese manager looks on.
China Luanshya Mine is one of four copper
mining companies in Zambia operated by the
Chinese parastatal China Non-Ferrous Metal
Mining Company.
© 2011 Thomas Lekfeldt/Moment/Redux