BMC honours long-service employees

OARABILE MOSIKARE
Correspondent | Friday December 7, 2007 00:00

'Those who do that extra bit towards the organisation need to be specially recognised and rewarded for their devotion to duty, sincerity and dedication,' Sebetlela said.
They are aware that the BMC is undergoing some major restructuring to improve its efficiencies. To that end, highly charged, energetic and hardworking personnel should be recruited to take it to greater heights.

 
'Generously rewarding long service employees as a token of appreciation and recognition is a step in the right direction,' he said. 'We, as a union, believe people are the most important asset of any organisation. We hear a lot of potential new employees end up turning down your offers because (they are) unattractive.
'Consequently, the BMC ends up with no option but to call back those who were retrenched. Most of them are still working here with us.'

Sebetlela complained that some people had been working for the BMC on a casual basis without benefits for seven years; much of the P43m in profits for the first half of 2007 was from the efforts of these unfairly treated casual employees.
'We strongly believe we need some token of appreciation for consistently maintaining (the) Quality Management System since 1996 to-date.'

Sebetlela  said the BMC's doing away with non-core business activities should not be used to scrap employees' benefits.  On a positive note, the trade unionist thanked the entire management  for its positive and cordial relationship with the union. 
'We always hear in some organisations that union and management do not see eye to eye.

 
I wish to stress that this has never happened during our time here. Sometimes we agree and disagree at the negotiation table, but we end up applying a win-win system.'
For her part, the General Manager, Bertha Kadandara said they were gathered to celebrate the achievements of 147 employees, whose length of service ranged from five to 35 years of continuous service to the BMC. This was a milestone which added up to an impressive 2, 200 years.

'The awards you are given today are a token of appreciation and recognition of your loyal and dedicated service and commitment over many years,' Kadandara said.
'You have persevered and supported the BMC at all times during the good, the bad and the ugly periods for which you have to be congratulated.' Kadandara said the improvement was the result of consultations with management employees.

'The improvement is to motivate employees further so that they keep on working harder to get the BMC to realise its vision of being one of the best producers of quality beef and related products in the world.' 
The awards should motivate those who have just joined the BMC to appreciate that hardwork and loyalty pay

'For the BMC to continue giving such prizes, it has to make a profit. Prosperity can further be enhanced by the elimination of acts which are wasteful and do not add value. It is therefore important that activities to make the BMC save more money should be practiced,' Kadandara said.