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

While Sino Metals appears to be the worst Chinese company in Zambia in terms of
providing PPE [see text box below on the treatment of casual workers], similar problems
exist at NFCA and CCS. An underground miner at NFCA, who used to work at the Indianowned
Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), contrasted the protective equipment workers were
provided at the two companies and described health problems that he had experienced
after working at NFCA:
We work underground and there are problems with the dust and the noise.
The Chinese don’t give me a respirator or ear pieces. At KCM, I received both
for the same work…. The lack of respirator causes lots of lung problems. I
cough all the time and have started feeling sharp pains in my chest after long
hours underground…. NFCA only gives ear pieces to those who work directly
with jackhammers, while KCM would give them if you were anywhere near one.
They also gave us routine ear exams. I went on my own recently, and my
hearing had gotten much worse. From a category 3 to a category 1. The union
and the safety department have said they’ll talk to the Chinese, but nothing
happens. We are voiceless—if you push, you can be fired. 130
A worker at CCS, who had also worked previously at KCM, said that KCM provided and
“made compulsory” goggles or tinted glasses for those working near the flame in the
smelting plant. At CCS, by contrast, eyewear was not provided to miners performing the
same jobs in the hot metal department; the vast majority work without any protection.
Concerned about his eyesight, this worker purchased his own pair. 131
Workers in the Chinese-owned copper mines, including this operator in the smelter at CCS,
repeatedly stressed that the refusal to replace protective equipment was particularly
problematic because the Chinese companies imported cheaper equipment to begin with:
In the smelter, you must understand that people are directly involved with
the copper. We work with hot metal, with chemicals. Because of the heat,
we’re supposed to be given heat-resistant PPE. You should see the leather
uniforms that people have to wear. People have been wearing them for a
130 Human Rights Watch interview with underground artisan fitter A at NFCA, Chambishi, November 15, 2010. Another
underground miner at NFCA similarly described suffering from the poor ventilation and lack of a working respirator. He said,
“You should go underground, it’s full of dust—there’s no ventilation. They just give us a cloth for our mouth once a month.
After a couple days, the thing is covered in dust and dirt. You might as well go down without it. So you struggle. You struggle.
And then if you say, ‘I don’t have the mouth cloth, it’s damaged, I can’t go underground,’ they say they’ll terminate you.”
Human Rights Watch interview with mine truck operator A at NFCA, Chambishi, July 16, 2011.
131 Human Rights Watch interview with miner B in the electrical furnace at CCS, Kitwe, July 16, 2011.
43 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011