During the era of the national mining company Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), all miners got equal wages for equal work. In addition, they had free housing, electricity, water and free education for their children. They were unionized and expected to reach retirement after their service in the mines. The very same conditions prevailed in the few companies that were contracted by ZCCM.
However, post-privatization, subcontracting companies proliferated and labor conditions now vary from one employer to the next. Even within one company, wages and conditions of service differ for workers executing the same kind of job with the same qualifications and level of experience. Access to basic services is also different. Permanent employees and their families enjoy better healthcare, a range of bonuses, and funeral allowances. Their colleagues engaged by a subcontractor at the very same plant do not profit from the same social advantages. They depend on their low wages to meet these costs, and on the often-failing public education, health systems or community schools that lack infrastructure, equipment, material and trained staff.
This paper first examines how workers experience these differences. It then explores the effects that these far-reaching changes in labor conditions have on the existing social order. What forms of masculine identity have emerged at the work floor in line with these less favorable and varying labor conditions? What tensions exist amongst workers and how are these expressed?