"You'll be fired if you refuse" : labor abuses in Zambia's Chinese state-owned copper mines / [Matt Wells].

"You'll be fired if you refuse" : labor abuses in Zambia's Chinese state-owned copper mines / [Matt Wells].

[New York, NY] : Human Rights Watch, [2011]

©2011

122 pages : color map. ; 27 cm

The past decade has seen burgeoning investment across Africa by private and state-run Chinese enterprises. This report examines the labor practices of a Chinese state-owned enterprise in four copper mining operations in Zambia. While Zambia's copper miners welcome Chinese-run companies' substantial investment and job creation, they also encounter abusive employment conditions that violate national and international standards and fall short of practices among the other multinationals operating in Zambia's copper mining industry. Miners at Chinese-run companies described consistently poor health and safety standards, including inadequate ventilation that can lead to serious lung diseases, hours of work in excess of Zambian law, the failure to replace workers' damaged protective equipment, and routine threats of being fired should they refuse to work in unsafe places. These practices, combined with the already dangerous nature of the work, cause injuries and other health complications. Many of the labor practices in Zambia seem to be exported from China's domestic mining industry, with safety and health measures treated as irritating barriers to greater profits, rather than as good business practices, both in the Chinese domestic mining industry and in Chinese-run mines in Zambia. Primary responsibility for ensuring that Zambia's copper mines operate in accordance with national and international standards rests with the Zambian government, which has largely failed to enforce the country's labor laws and mining regulations. A September 20, 2011, presidential election brought to power longtime opposition politician Michael Sata, who has long been critical of labor practices in Chinese-run companies. Sata should now demonstrate that his rhetoric will be matched by action to protect workers' rights.

"This report was researched and authored by Matt Wells, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, with additional research by a researcher in another division at Human Rights Watch."--P. 122.
"November 2011"--P. following t.p. verso.
Also available online.

Includes bibliographical references.

STA

Online version: Wells, Matt. "You'll be fired if you refuse". [New York, N.Y.] : Human Rights Watch, c2011

Zambia : "You'll be fired if you refuse" : Labor abuses in Zambia's Chinese state-owned copper mines.

KTY209.5 .W45 2011

English

1564328244
9781564328243

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