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

In addition to firing, four miners at NFCA told Human Rights Watch that they had been
marked “absent”—and not paid for their day’s work—after refusing to go ahead in an area
they deemed unsafe. An electrician who works underground described a 2010 incident:
The Chinese even cancel hours if you stop because of safety reasons. We
had a problem with the supporting drill rig, for example, and it wasn’t
okay to continue. I reported it to the safety officer, who reported it to the
Chinese boss. I’d been working underground all day, but because we
didn’t go ahead, the Chinese boss said he had “canceled” our shift, and
didn’t pay me for that day. 178
A drill operator underground at NFCA explained a similar incident in late 2010:
So many accidents occur because the Chinese fail to understand the
importance of safety…. If we refuse [to work in an unsafe place], even if a
safety inspector agrees, we will come to the surface and find that they have
marked us absent, so we won’t be paid… One day we had already [drilled]
past where the support stopped, and I didn’t think it was safe to go farther
without building more support. When I got my next paycheck I saw that I was
marked absent. When I confronted the Chinese boss about it, he yelled at me
and said I didn’t do my job. And he told me to quit. I’m worried now that when
my contract comes up, they won’t renew me. So in the future, I’ll just have to
go ahead with the work, no matter how unsafe. Otherwise I’ll lose my job. 179
Zambian laws on termination are fairly strict, requiring reason for dismissal and a fair
process that includes giving an employee the right to respond prior to dismissal and the
mandatory reporting of a summary dismissal to the district labor officer within four days
along with the reasons for dismissal. 180 If these and other provisions are not followed,
workers have a grievance—and, indeed, workers do often win cases that make their way
through the Zambian courts. Like the drill operator quoted above, however, most miners
who spoke to Human Rights Watch made clear that they cannot risk losing their job. As a
result, they said that they rarely challenge the supervisor—regardless of the health or
safety risk that it subjects them to.
178 Human Rights Watch interview with electrician A at NFCA, Chambishi, November 11, 2010.
179 Human Rights Watch interview with underground drill operator B at NFCA, Chambishi, November 11, 2010.
180 See Republic of Zambia, Chapter 268: The Employment Act, sections 20-26; Ministry of Labour and Social Security,
“Frequently Asked Labour Law Questions (With Answers),” December 2008, pp. 5-8.
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