By SYLVESTER MWALE –
EMPLOYEES at TAP Zambia say they have agreed with the board to sell 33 acres of company land in Chilanga as well as a house at the premises to recover their terminal benefits.
This followed the decision by the company management to send all the workers at the roof-making firm on forced unpaid leave last month after scaling down production.
It is understood that TAP Zambia would require about K7 million to clear the workers in case they were retired.
National Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers (NUCIW) general secretary Seth Paraza said the union had agreed to separate because of the continuous challenges faced by the company.
“We have agreed to separate and the management will have to work out ways to pay the workers benefit.
“We have approached a company that is interested to buy the land and if the money realised won’t be enough then we will identify other assets to ensure that everyone is paid their benefits,” he said.
Mr Paraza said past experience had shown that companies owned by foreigners had closed at short notice without paying the workers who normally ended up languishing.
NUCIW branch chairperson, Boniface Mweemba said the workers were currently waiting for the management to draft a memorandum of understanding after agreeing to sell the piece of land.
However, TAP Zambia board chairperson Noel Nkhoma said no agreement had been reached but a proposal from the workers’ representatives.
“We have not reached any agreement of that kind, the union has written to us but we have not responded, we are still studying the proposal and we will be able to respond accordingly.
“In this regard, it is not true that we are calculating the terminal benefits of the employees because they have not been retired, the company is just on care and maintenance,” he said.
On speculations that Lafarge Zambia had taken over the premises of TAP Zambia, Mr Nkhoma refused to comment saying the matter s still in court.
More than 90 employees were forced on unpaid leave at the company last month following the decision by the board to suspend operations.
The employees who have not been paid their past two months salaries
were caught off guard as they were given less than a week in which to proceed on unpaid leave.
TAP Zambia has faced serious operational challenges in the past few years following the closure of the asbestos mines in Zimbabwe – the source of its raw materials for the asbestos it manufactures.
Additionally, Lafarge terminated its contract of cement supply to TAP Zambia last year, further crippling the company.