Chinese managers held hostage

2008-03-04 12:33

Lusaka - Striking construction workers at a copper smelter in Zambia took a group of Chinese managers hostage on Tuesday in protest at their poor working conditions.

Police were called to the site to free the hostages and calm tensions after workers locked the Chinese inside their offices and shut the perimeter gates, said company spokesperson George Jambwa.

More than 500 workers at the $200m Chinese-owned site near the town of Chambesi began their strike action on Monday to press for better wages and safer working conditions, Jambwa said.

"We decided to go on strike because of the pathetic working conditions," said workers' representative Teddy Chisala. "The Chinese are not respecting Zambian labour laws."

Workers, who staged a similar work stoppage one month ago, said their salaries amounted to a mere $50 a month and complained of poor medical facilities.

The smelter was under construction in Zambia's copper belt province, where the Chinese government had been granted tax concessions by the Zambian government.

Chinese investors in the southern African nation were often criticised for poor safety records.

This criticism grew after 50 Zambian miners died in an explosion at a Chinese-owned Chambeshi copper mine in 2005. Copper was Zambia's major export earner and contributed more than half of the country's gross domestic product.

- AFP