By a Correspondent
ZESCO workers for the first time in as many years will not be paid their traditional Christmas bonuses due to the company’s insolvency and mismanagement under the new management of Mr Victor Mapani, union leaders have revealed.
“This is the first time we won’t be paid our hard-earned Christmas bonuses in more than ten years because the new management has totally failed us,” a senior union leader said.
According to the union, when it asked why the already struggling workers won’t get their Christmas cheque, management told them that, “we have to pay off huge amounts to the PF cadres whom we sacked so there is no money.”
But the union feels that management should have either had a plan B before sacking people they suspect to be PF or they should have fired the perceived PF workers in phases.
Things have become unbearable at Zesco under the new dawn where no job is protected even by law or by the union where a top union leader from Power Generation and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (POGAWUZ) was recently sacked for questioning management on the widespread mistreatment of workers from all ranks.
Management has already stripped Zesco workers of the traditional electricity subsidy they used to enjoy known as SI that ensued, they paid less electricity charges compared to ordinary customers.
This has made life hard for lower ranked workers as compared to the highly paid management workers that enjoy high perks.
This has led to low morale which is expected to get worse as load shedding becomes effective today and complaints from customers regarding faults increase.
The union leader sacked is believed to be Thomas Nyendwa who has been a source of pain in Mapani´s neck according to union officials.
