20111006
Reuters
LUSAKA (Reuters) - About 2,000 Zambian workers at NFC Africa Mining, majority-owned by China Nonferrous Metals Mining Corporation, have gone on a strike for higher wages two weeks after a new president took office, pledging to improve conditions at Chinese-owned mines.


Workers walked out even while the union and management at the copper mine prepared to begin wage negotiations in November.

"They have refused to go underground for the second day today, but we are appealing to them to go back to work because their salaries will be discussed next month," National Union of Mine and Allied Workers general secretary Goodwell Kaluba told Reuters on Thursday.

Zambian President Michael Sata won elections in Africa's top copper producer on populist messages that included criticism of foreign investors and promises to improve the plight of the workers they employed.

Sata last week met Chinese ambassador Zhou Yuxiao, trying to dispel fears his sometimes fierce anti-Chinese rhetoric would translate into a shift in investment policy now that he is in office.

However, he also made clear that Chinese companies, which have so far ploughed more than $2 billion into developing the mining sector in the southern African country, would not be getting preferential treatment.