Breaching Covid-19 regulations

REPORTS of workers being subjected to unconducive work conditions by some companies in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, are disturbing. It is hard to believe that some employers could force workers to stay in their company premises on grounds that they wanted to prevent them from contracting Covid-19 but subject them to poor living conditions. We have in mind a named Chinese company Chuengzhu Hardware in Lusaka’s Chinika area which was closed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security because owners had confined workers in the company premises for two months under unhealthy conditions to prevent them from contracting the virus. According deputy commissioner for inspections Lupili Sichone who shut the company soon after inspection, the workers were living in an unconducive environment in a warehouse without proper ventilation. To make matters worse, the kitchen was in the same room with the lavatory and bath area, little wonder the ministry was left with no choice but to close the company. “It’s not right for humans to be treated like this, how you can confine people to sleep in a very dirty room without ventilation. The kitchen is in the same room with the lavatory and bath area, treat these people with the same respect that they have offered you since your stay in Zambia,” Ms Sichone observed. Ms Sichone was on firm ground on the need for the company to treat workers with dignity. It’s a shame that the workers were expected to make money for the company, while at the same time were confined under pathetic conditions against their will. Indeed we find it ironical, hypocritical and ridiculous that the company which could forcibly confine workers in an unhealthy environment could claim it wanted to prevent them from contracting the coronavirus once outside the premises, how? The Ministry of Labour has laid down regulations which employers are supposed to follow in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and we have no doubt the company’s management was fully privy to these laws to ensure the safety of the workers. But nay, it is certain that company was merely being disingenuous about the matter because if they really wanted to confine the workers, they would have done so under a conducive environment as opposed to forcing them to live in a poorly ventilated warehouse. We therefore fully endorse the action taken by the Ministry of Labour to immediately close Chuengzhu and Hardware for two weeks for breaching the employment conditions. This should serve as a lesson to other companies that might be confining or subjecting workers to unsafe working conditions amid Covid-19 which has continued to wreak havoc in country. We also urge the Ministry of Labour to intensify the inspections and extend the exercise to other companies that could be abrogating the labour laws that regulate employment conditions during the coronavirus period. It wouldn’t be wrong to conclude that there are many other companies that are abrogating the regulations like Chuengzhu Hardware. They need to be exposed and dealt with to serve as a deterrent to others. Unfortunately for Chuengzhu Hardware, it is not only being punished for disobeying the laws that regulate employment under the present Covid-19 situation, it was also found to have failed to meet the minimum wage conditions for its employees as required under the Minimum Wages and Conditions Act. Police have since detained the company’s human resources manager for not complying with labour inspectors while management was ordered to pay the workers their full salaries. The company would only resume operating once it rectified the shortcomings cited by labour inspectors. Covid-19 is real and it is only proper that companies follow the laws that regulate employment conditions amid the outbreak of the pandemic to avoid sanctions. The Sun