July 2005 Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket: JCTR Challenges all Employers to Respect the Dignity of Zambian Workers
Abstract
The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) challenges all employers of labour, whether foreign investors, the government, local businessmen or informal employers, to respect the inherent dignity of their employees by valuing the work that they do and compensating them justly. According to Muweme Muweme of the Social Conditions Research Project of the JCTR, “Created in the image of God, each one of us has inherent dignity and has God-given talents that should be employed to contribute to the good of society at large. This implies that conditions that promote that dignity and the use of God-given talents must be created.” It is unfortunate that in Zambia today, the prevailing situation is where workers are employed under insufficient human conditions, treated, in some cases, simply as a means to maximise profits, inadequately remunerated for a family to meet the cost of basic needs, casualisation of jobs that require full-time engagement, etc. This situation has been manifested, for example, in the current dispute between Shoprite workers and management, and the recent
Chambishi incidence which witnessed loss of many lives.
Description
The JCTR Basic Needs Basket that measures cost of living for a family of six in Lusaka, Livingston, Kabwe, Ndola, Luanshya and Kitwe has shown the disparity that exists between income on one hand and cost of living on the other. For example, the Basic Needs Basket for Lusaka in the month of June stood at K1,349,650 with the cost of a 25 Kg bag ofbreakfast mealie meal rising for the second month in a row by approximately K1,000. Comparing this figure of cost of basic needs with a full-time employee in a multi-national supermarket earning only up to K400,000 gives us an example of the extent to which incomes fall below the requirements for decent human survival. “The current high cost of living not only denies the ability to lead dignified lives but inhibits effective exploitation of
God-given talents,” says Muweme.