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

A national-level official at the Mineworkers Union of Zambia told Human Rights Watch that
there was a stark difference at NFCA in particular: “Most companies take safety talks seriously.
This goes back to the days of ZCCM, they have been standard since. NFCA is the big
exception.” 110 Miners at NFCA told Human Rights Watch that safety talks had been introduced
in early 2011—showing, as elsewhere, that there have been improvements among the Chineserun
companies—but one underground miner cited a remaining problem echoed by others:
The Chinese are never there for the safety talks, it’s just the Zambians. Even
when you have a Chinese manager, when he makes the decisions
underground, he doesn’t take part. Only the Zambian manager, who has no
real authority, leads the morning safety talk. 111
The result, as stated by an underground mine truck operator, is that “what we hear during
the safety talk and what they do underground is very different.” 112
In a letter from China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation (CNMC) in response to the
main findings in this report, NFCA acknowledged that it had come under “repeated
criticisms” from Zambian government departments including the Mines Safety Department.
It blamed the failure of the Chinese subcontractor who does underground mining at NFCA
to register “as an independent legal entity in Zambia,” but said that this had been rectified
for 2011 to 2013. 113 NFCA also faulted “language and cultural differences during
communication and interaction” with employees, which it said “could have possibly
resulted in misunderstandings about the actual state of affairs.” 114 NFCA finally stressed
that it had “supplemented and improved its measures” related to worker safety and
protective equipment, including through new regulations implemented on January 1,
2011. 115 As this report makes clear, miners interviewed by Human Rights Watch
acknowledged that the situation is much improved from when NFCA started operations.
However, the safety practices remain substandard both in relation to labor law and to
other multinationals operating in Zambia’s copper industry.
110 Human Rights Watch interview with MUZ safety official, Kitwe, July 18, 2011.
111 Human Rights Watch interview with underground boomer operator D at NFCA, Chambishi, July 16, 2011.
112 Human Rights Watch interview with miner truck operator B at NFCA, Chambishi, July 16, 2011.
113 Letter from China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation (CNMC) to Human Rights Watch, October 8, 2011.
114 Ibid.
115 Ibid.
37 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011