Federation of Free Trade Unions (FFTUZ) distances itself from Labour Day boycott calls by UPND

THE Federation of Free Trade Unions (FFTUZ) has distanced itself from calls by the United Party for National Development (UPND) to boycott Labour Day celebrations and has since condemned the party for not consulting the labour movement before making the call.
“We would like to condemn the UPND for calling on our members to shun Labour Day celebrations without consulting us, the trade union centres. In every institution, there are laid down procedures. The UPND leadership should have taken this into consideration before issuing such statements to our members,” said FFTUZ president Chingati Msiska in a statement yesterday.
He said FFTUZ members will take part in Labour Day celebrations.
“The workers are not necessarily celebrating the wages that they get, but rather they are celebrating their recognition as workers. This is also a platform where workers join their fellow workers around the world to commemorate their day,” Mr Msiska said.
He said shunning Labour Day celebrations will deprive the workers an opportunity to hear what Government is doing to improvement their conditions of service.
He said such action could also bring mistrust and jeopardise the progress that has been made in the negotiations between Government and the labour movement.
“There are laid down channels whereby we as the labour movement, sit down with Government and employers to discuss and find solutions to issues being raised such as low wages, casualisation of work and labour law reforms. And a lot of progress has been made on addressing these issues,” Mr Msiska said.

Source-ZambiaDailyMail