Federation of Free Trade Unions(FFTUZ) Secretary General Victor Muyumba Tuesday 17th March Press Brief

FEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS OF ZAMBIA (FFTUZ)
SECRETARY GENERAL BRIEF!

DATE: 17TH MARCH, 2020

FFTUZ RIDING THE WAVE- WHERE DO WE START FROM??

The SDG 1 is about Ending Poverty in all its forms. One of the targets of SDG1 is that by 2030, the World will have eradicated extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.
The SDG Progress report on goal 1 highlights: “Despite having a job, 8 per cent of the world’s workers and their families still lived in extreme poverty in 2018. The situation remains particularly alarming in sub-Saharan Africa, where the share of working poor stood at 38 per cent in 2018. The report further noted that: “Only 22 per cent of unemployed persons receive unemployment cash benefits, only 28 per cent of persons with severe disabilities receive disability cash benefits, only 35 per cent of children worldwide enjoy effective access to social protection and only 41 per cent of women giving birth receive maternity cash benefits”.

At national level, we have set for ourselves Vision 2030 which outlines long-term national and sector goals for attaining desirable socio-economic indicators, to fulfil the Zambian people’s aspirations.
In the same period (2018), the Zambian labour force stood at about 3,329,147 employed persons both in the formal and informal sector. As such, the informal sector is still recognized as the largest employer with 73.4% (2,443,594) of the total labour force.
With the absence of adequate support systems to the informal sector, people in informal employment are more likely to experience poverty as compared to people in formal employment because people employed in informal sectors such as agriculture and fishing may be affected by weather patterns and fish bans which greatly affects the livelihoods of people heavily relying on such income sources.
As earlier noted, a significant number of the working population in the country is self-employed, mainly in subsistence agriculture or small-scale and often fragile businesses. In order to reduce developmental inequalities as espoused in the 7th National Development Plan (7NDP), Zambia would need to invest into creating sustainable jobs in both formal and informal sectors. This will enhance income distribution and contribute to social and economic justice.
Going forward, there is need to invest much in the Education Curriculum Development (ECD) with special emphasis on Life Long Education and Work Based Learning (WBL). We need to activate various adult learning initiatives to augment practical and entrepreneurial skills and literacy.
This said, developing infrastructure (Physical and Legislative) that would facilitate Life Long Learning and administration of practical and entrepreneurial skills in formal, semi-formal and informal learning centers will go a long way in addressing unstructured informal sector which employs majority of our citizens.
As a leading apex Labour Movement, with a mission of building trade union power and defend Workers’ Rights in the country for social and economic justice; FFTUZ is committed to ensuring that we contribute to efficient and effective performance of the informal sector which takes the largest share of the Zambia’s labour force. We place value on functional social and economic justice.
We call on the partners and the nation at large to journey with us!

Victor Muyumba
SECRETARY GENERAL