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exploitation mining

improve the quality of life of citizens, industry, which is one of the world’s most wage exploitation in the Zambian mining
particularly the poorest segments of the resource-endowed countries with vast industry.
population; however, corporate rentiers mineral deposits. Our calculations were based on
(MNCs) perceive tariffs and levies as Despite the county’s immense mineral two separate collective bargaining
a financial burden that will inevitably reserves, our research revealed that in agreements, which detailed the monthly
reduce their profit margins. exchange for their labor, many Zambian wages earned by KCM permanent
For instance, in 2011, the Konkola Copper copper miners are paid next to nothing contract employees and the monthly
Mines (KCM) corporation, which is the for their services. wages obtained by temporary contract
“largest private employer in Zambia ,” with In order to get a sense of wage exploitation workers.
an estimated 16,000 employees, only paid and the general labor conditions in the Based on the empirical data collected,
$105 million in taxes on “its $2.16 billion Zambian mining industry, Tricontinental: we observed an extraordinary gap in
worth of production, amounting to an Institute for Social Research spoke with monetary compensation between the
effective tax rate of less than 5 percent.” three non-permanent contract miners top executives of Vedanta (KCM’s parent
Sadly, over the past several decades, working at the Konkola Copper Mines company) and the average annual wages
many mineral-rich rentier-states have (KCM) owned mine. earned by KCM permanent contract
entered a downward spiral in an attempt In our discussions, all three men reported miners and temporary contract hires.
to incentivize foreign investment, offering that their current wages prevented them For example, according to our research,
MNCs low tax rates and favorable from being able to fulfill their own basic in 2018 Chairman Anil Agarwal earned
production-sharing agreements. needs and those of their families.* around 584 times as much as temporary
The loss of developing countries’ capacities “ The wages that we receive are well contract workers and close to 164 times as
to retain earnings due to “political rents” below the cost of the basic food basket” much as a KCM miner with a permanent
accrued by corporate investors has (defined by the World Bank as “the food contract.
been extensively documented and is bundle corresponding to a minimum Labor strikes in Zambia’s mining sector
particularly evident in the Zambian mining caloric requirement”). “If you look at are commonplace. In 2017, business
industry.
our salaries, we are earning no more operations for KCM in Chililabombwe
Wage Exploitation than US$172 [per month],” Miner 1 told were brought to a standstill after workers
Tricontinental in an interview conducted went on strike over salary adjustments.
While not strictly classified as rent- last January.
seeking, multinational mining companies “ I think that most of us miners believe
engage in yet another form of corporate In 2018, Zambia’s monthly minimum that companies like KCM are in fact
plunder, which takes place through wage wage stood around US$176.4, making stealing from us. They are stepping on
exploitation. it the fifth-highest average minimum our rights, and as a result we are living in
wage in the Southern African region, abject poverty,” Miner 2 said when asked
Wage exploitation is a process that according to statistics from the World about his perception of the multinational
ensures increased profit margins for Bank. mining firms operating in his country.
corporate owners and any potential
company shareholders, at the expense of “ So, we are actually earning less than the With nearly 60 percent of the country’s
workers. national minimum wage, which makes population living below the poverty line, it
In empirical research conducted by it nearly impossible to survive,” Miner 1 seems completely reasonable to suggest
Tricontinental: Institute for Social went on to say. that Zambian people are deserving of a
greater share of the lucrative financial
Research, we observed extensive levels of Technically, it is a legal offense not to
wage exploitation in the Zambian mining meet minimum wage demands; however, returns generated by their country’s
penalties are rarely mining industry.
imposed on foreign In summary, it is our hope that this
mu l ti n a ti o n al research helped illustrate how the
companies that combination of both wage exploitation
violate the country’s in the context of the Zambian mining
national labor code. industry along with corporate rent-
seeking practices in the global extractive
These miners’
testimonies are sector contribute to the larger pattern of
largely consistent underdevelopment in the Global South.
with the empirical (Supplied by Globetrotter)
research and
the subsequent Nate Singham is based in São Paulo,
calculations that Brazil, where he works as a researcher
we carried out in
Workers at Mopani copper mine order to determine with Tricontinental: Institute for
Social Research

AFRICAN POWER Mining & Oil Review Vol 28, Issue 29, 2019 | 57