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

“Let me tell you, for people who complain. I once worked underground nine straight nights
from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.—and I enjoyed it.” 250
Evan Mutali, the assistant human resources manager at CCS, defended his company’s 12-
hour shifts as necessary for the mining operations:
The issue of hours was brought up during the last collective bargaining
agreement. The 12-hour shift will continue, as it’s required for our smelter’s
operations [that] need to be maintained for 12 hours. If you did three shifts,
the smelter would fail because of the shift change. So the shifts must be 12
hours, because of the method and technology involved. Once the copper is
put in the converters, it must go through a long process. If people knock off
during the cycle, the whole thing will collapse…. This is different from other
smelters, where they use fire and coal. We use oxygen, so it’s difficult. The
labor law says 48 hours, but production is continuous. 251
In its letter to Human Rights Watch, CNMC did not claim that a 12-hour shift was necessary at
the CCS plant, but that it was better both for productivity and from the workers’ perspective:
This model for shift work is relatively better than that of eight-hour shifts
in that: work and non-work hours are concentrated into longer blocks,
thereby reducing the number of shifts and increasing stability in
production; at the same time, workers can reduce the number of times
they travel to and from work each month, thus reducing the amount of
time spent on travelling for work, which then effectively increases the
amount of time workers have for themselves. 252
Whether or not the 12-hour shift is necessary or better for its operations, its standard use
along with the weekly 18-hour shift at Sino Metals, is both unique in Zambia’s copper
industry 253 and raises safety concerns. Many of the workers who spoke to Human Rights
250 Human Rights Watch interview with Godwin Beene, Ministry of Mines, Lusaka, July 18, 2011.
251 Human Rights Watch interview with Evan Mutali, assistant HR manager at CCS, Chambishi, July 12, 2011. Human Rights
Watch presented the claim to union officials, Zambian economists who specialize in the copper mining industry, and other
Zambian copper mining experts, and they all disagreed with the contention that a 12-hour shift was necessary. They all said
that there should not be a problem in utilizing a three-shift system, as is standard in copper smelters run by other
multinationals. Human Rights Watch interviews, Kitwe and Lusaka, July 2011.
252 Letter from CNMC to Human Rights Watch, October 8, 2011.
253 Smelting and processing operations at Konkola Copper Mines, Mopani Copper Mines, and Kansanshi operate on an 8-
hour workday, with three work shifts, as discussed below.
79 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011