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

Intimidating Union Representatives
Union officials at the three Chambishi-based copper mining operations alleged that
Chinese management acted improperly against both the local union branch and individual
representatives. ILO Convention No. 135 states that “[w]orkers’ representatives in the
undertaking shall enjoy effective protection against any act prejudicial to them, including
dismissal, based on their status or activities as a workers’ representative or on union
membership or participation in union activities, in so far as they act in conformity with
existing laws or collective agreements or other jointly agreed arrangements.” 294 A union
representative at Sino Metals described to Human Rights Watch the contrast between
these requirements and the conditions at the mine where he worked:
The Chinese don’t understand the concept of a union. They intimidate
those that lead or are part of a union. If they know you’re a representative,
you’ll encounter problems, they’ll try to frustrate you until you leave the job.
For me, before I was working in the [omitted to protect anonymity]
department. But they transferred me to the crusher department because I’m
a representative. We all know why these transfers happen, as it always
touches the same people, [union representatives]…. It’s a much tougher
environment in the crusher, it’s very dusty. I don’t have experience there,
it’s not my background, they just wanted to make me leave…. Basically, if
you’re in the union, they’re going to try to frustrate you. If you don’t ever
talk, if you don’t ever complain, then the Chinese will like you. 295
Several other union representatives at Chinese-run mines described being transferred to
different departments where they had no experience, without being consulted, in what
they perceived as an attempt to either make them quit or pressure them into shunning
their union responsibilities. A union representative at NFCA described what he believed
was retribution for attending union meetings:
Several times I’ve been harassed and intimidated because of my union ties.
[Earlier this year], I was forcibly transferred; they moved me to machines,
because they wanted me to stop attending union meetings—the machines
department is much farther from where meetings are organized and held….
[Several months later], they charged me for attending a meeting, which is
294 ILO Convention No. 135: Convention concerning Protection and Facilities to be Afforded to Workers’ Representatives in
the Undertaking, art. 1, adopted June 23, 1971, ratified by Zambia May 24, 1973.
295 Human Rights Watch with union representative A at Sino Metals, Kitwe, November 7, 2010.
91 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011