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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

NOVEMBER 2011 ISBN: 1-56432-824-4 “You’ll Be Fired if You Refuse” Labor Abuses in Zambia’s Chinese State-owned Copper Mines Map of Zambia .................................................................................................................... i Summary ............................................................................................................................ 1 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 7 To the Government of Zambia ................................................................................................... 7 To the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development, including the Mines Safety Department ...... 7 To the Ministry of Labor and Social Security ............................................................................. 8 To the Chinese Government ..................................................................................................... 8 To China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation ..................................................................... 8 To the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of China’s State Council ........................................................................................................................... 9 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 10 I. Background .................................................................................................................... 13 A Body of Work on Business and Human Rights .................................................................... 14 China in Africa ........................................................................................................................ 14 History of Zambia’s Copper Industry ....................................................................................... 17 Copper Mining Operations in Zambia ................................................................................ 18 Zambian Government as Minority Owner .................................................................................20 Chinese Investment in Zambia, Copper Industry ......................................................................20 Labor Problems and Low Wages in the Chinese Mines ....................................................... 22 Exporting Abuses?: Similar Labor Problems in China’s Mining Industry ............................. 25 Politicization of Chinese Investment, 2011 Election .................................................................26 “Good Investors, but Bad Employers”: Dichotomy between Welcomed Chinese Investment and Abusive Labor Practices ................................................................................. 30 II. Health and Safety ......................................................................................................... 32 Health and Safety Hazards ...................................................................................................... 33 Failure to Provide Potable Water ....................................................................................... 38 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ...................................................................................... 39 Casual Workers at Sino Metals: No PPE, Labor Law Loopholes ........................................... 45 “How Can We Pick One Child?”: Family Medical Care at Sino-Zam Friendship Hospital ............ 49
Company Safety Officers without Authority.............................................................................. 50 Threats against Workers Refusing to Work in Unsafe Areas ...................................................... 54 Making Good on Their Threats: Firings and Docked Pay ..................................................... 59 Best Safety Practices in Zambia’s Copper Industry .................................................................. 61 Deliberate Failure to Report Accidents ..................................................................................... 63 Problem of Subcontractors at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) .................................................... 67 Government’s Mines Safety Department ................................................................................ 68 Physical Abuse by Chinese Supervisors .................................................................................. 73 III. Hours and Overtime ..................................................................................................... 75 Excessive Working Hours at Sino Metals, CCS ......................................................................... 75 Improvements at NFCA, except for Double Shift Underground ...........................................82 IV. Anti-Union Activities .................................................................................................... 85 Efforts to Bar MUZ at CCS, Sino Metals ................................................................................... 86 Intimidating Union Representatives ........................................................................................ 91 Intimidation against Union Representatives in Other Copper Mines ......................................... 95 V. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 97 Annex I: Letter to CNMC and Response ............................................................................. 99 Annex II: Copper Price, 2001-2011 .................................................................................... 113 Annex III: Funding for Mines Safety Department .............................................................. 114 Annex IV: Wages in Chinese and Other Foreign-Owned Mines in Zambia as of September 2011 .............................................................................................................. 117 Annex V: Salary Breakdown at Sino Metals and CCS as of September 2011 ...................... 121 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 122
Page 1 and 2: Zambia “You’ll Be Fired if You
Page 3: Copyright © 2011 Human Rights Watc
Page 8 and 9: Summary Over the past decade, China
Page 10 and 11: Chinese-run Copper Mining Companies
Page 12 and 13: uling in MUZ’s favor on the estab
Page 14 and 15: Recommendations To the Government o
Page 16 and 17: Reward managers and safety inspecto
Page 18 and 19: them as having spoken to Human Righ
Page 20 and 21: I. Background China’s role in Afr
Page 22 and 23: [The Chinese government] supports c
Page 24 and 25: History of Zambia’s Copper Indust
Page 26 and 27: Copper prices rose steadily from 20
Page 28 and 29: for CNMC in 2003—13 years after t
Page 30 and 31: policeman. Although the police inve
Page 32 and 33: underground mining has more than do
Page 34 and 35: After Mwanawasa died in August 2008
Page 36 and 37: quickly requested that the company
Page 38 and 39: of us in planning has our own compu
Page 40 and 41: Economic, Social, and Cultural Righ
Page 42 and 43: problems. In some areas, they shoul
Page 44 and 45: A national-level official at the Mi
Page 46 and 47: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Page 48 and 49: Miners told Human Rights Watch that
Page 50 and 51: While Sino Metals appears to be the
Page 52 and 53: Casual Workers at Sino Metals: No P
Page 54 and 55:
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
Page 72 and 73:
50,000, 100,000 Kwacha to not repor
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
Page 86 and 87:
“Let me tell you, for people who
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
Page 98 and 99:
Intimidating Union Representatives
Page 100 and 101:
A union representative at Sino Meta
Page 102 and 103:
exercising or for the anticipated e
Page 104 and 105:
V. Conclusion This report seeks to
Page 106 and 107:
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue
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
Page 114 and 115:
the wearing of PPE (including those
Page 116 and 117:
common practice in the mining indus
Page 118 and 119:
egistering with the company. Howeve
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
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?

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