The Zambian Industrial Relations Act, Cap 269, requires that both unions and employers act reasonably in wage negotiations. However, the law gives no indication of what reasonableness means, with senior members of Zambia’s labour ministry, mining HR departments and trade unionists all providing differing definitions of ‘reasonable’. Yet common to each understanding is that it is unions, rather than mining companies, who are unreasonable in negotiations, regardless of how little the companies offer their workers. Through the discursive device of reasonableness, trade union leaders are implored to take on moral responsibly for the health of the company, industry and nation and are told that this health exists in direct opposition to achieving higher wages for their members. This discourse encourages them to adopt a neoliberal understanding of how wages are determined and the relationship between wages, investment and development.