Railway workers end strike

Dar es Salaam - The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) resumed operations on Monday after more than 1 000 Tanzanian workers ended a two-week strike, the company said.

The strike over unpaid wages by 1 067 workers crippled operations at the loss-making railway, which is used to transport copper from Zambia to Tanzania's Dar es Salaam port for export.

Tazara said it suffered losses of more than $1.4m from the disruption.

Spokesperson Conrad Simuchile said salary arrears were cleared after the Zambian and Tanzanian governments made payments totalling more than $6m.

The Chinese-built railway has suffered from falling cargo traffic and years of inadequate investment by the two state shareholders.

Simuchile said that over the past eight months revenue had averaged $1.53m per month against an estimated average expenditure exceeding $2.5m, of which salaries alone constituted an average of $1.3m.

The 1 860 km railway had previously threatened to sack all striking workers in Tanzania if they did not return to work, saying their salary arrears were being resolved.