Labour issues warning ahead of elections

As general elections approach, Zambian labour unions are threatening to unseat the ruling party for failing to pay back workers who "sacrificed" benefits to help the country qualify for debt cancellation. Zambia's coffers are US$150 million richer after its debts were slashed by rich countries in reward for sticking to economic reforms under the IMF and World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Leonard Hikaumba, a Zambia Congress of Trade Unions leader, told IRIN that despite sacrifices made by employees to achieve single-digit inflation and an appreciating kwacha - up by 65 percent from last year - government promises that workers' service conditions would improve were just lip service. Government employees allowed a wage freeze for more than two years to enable Zambia to reach the HIPC completion point, which had led to the debt cancellation, Hikaumba explained. "We need to make a checklist to ascertain what they [the ruling party] have delivered. If they have not performed, we should make necessary decisions. Those who have not performed should not be given another chance," he said. Elections are due at the end of the year, and President Levy Mwanawasa, standing for a second term, is expected to face a difficult race. Last month public service workers were awarded a 13 percent salary increase, but the government allegedly flouted the agreement by not improving the conditions of service, the trade unionist maintained. The salaries of unionised civil servants range between $165 and $500 a month; non-unionised workers are entitled to salaries between $115 and $160. According to a recent basic needs basket survey conducted by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, which monitors household expenditure on basic food and non-food items, the cost of food alone for a family of six in the capital, Lusaka, was about $167 per month. Government spokesperson Vernon Mwaanga conceded that a number of commitments had not been met. "We appreciate the sacrifice our workers are going through, but we can only commit ourselves to improving your conditions of service after we have reviewed the benefits from the HIPC debt writeoff," he said at a May Day rally in the south of the country. According to finance minister Ngandu Magande, about 95 percent of Zambia's US $7 billion external debt will disappear by the end of 2006, following Zambia's selection as one of 19 countries to qualify for debt cancellation by the G8 group of rich nations. Magande has committed the government to ploughing some of the savings into priority areas like education and health as part of a poverty alleviation plan for a country that has endured 20 years of painful economic reforms and rocky relations with donors.