Mupane miners threaten strike action
Chakalisa Dube | Monday December 20, 2021 06:00
The salary talks were led by the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU). The union has 111 members at Mupane Mine. It had proposed a 13% salary increase for its members against the four percent tabled by the mine management. “We were willing to settle for eight percent of the 13 we demanded but we did not reach an agreement with the mine management. The management maintained that the mine's financial position means that management can only afford a four percent increase, while the union held a contrary view,” BMWU general-secretary Maenge Maenge said in an interview yesterday.
He said the negotiations initially included salary increases as well as provision of other monetary benefits such as shift and housing allowances. “The union leadership later reached a compromise and chose to solely focus on salary increases. The salary increase is necessary because we believe that it will cushion our members against the cost of living which is rising steeply,” Maenge explained. The general-secretary further said the union is still observing a 30-day cooling off period which started on December 2, 2021, which comes to an end in January. Under the cooling period, there is no strike action that can take place. “During the cooling off period, we will continue mobilising the workers (for a planned strike).
The objective is to embark on a legal strike immediately after the cooling off period,” Maenge said. On Wednesday evening the union held a meeting (at the union house in Francistown), which was attended by 30 Mupane workers as part of mobilising for the planned strike. In order for the industrial strike to legally take place, it has to be endorsed by two-thirds of unionised employees under the employ of the union. Added Maenge: “During the cooling off period we will also be drafting strike rules.
We intend to issue a 48-hour notice to strike immediately after the cooling off period.” Since the beginning of the year, the relationship between Mupane and its employees has been waning. The mine and BMWU have also often clashed over the localisation plan. The union has on many occasions accused the mine of not showing commitment to localise some key posts. On the other hand, the mine argued there are few locals ready to take over those posts. Additionally, last month Mupane employees through the union said they plan to approach the court to force the Department of Mines to conduct an inspection of the mine and its subcontractor SVU Pty/Ltd.
They accused the mine and the subcontractor of disregarding their working and general safety conditions. Maenge said plans to take the Department of Mines to court in order to force an inspection at Mupane are at an advanced stage.