BMWU decries lax labour laws
Pini Bothoko | Monday July 7, 2014 06:59
In an interview with BusinessMonitor Malele said it has become a trend in Botswana for mine workers to lose their jobs easily and the law has not protected them.
“All mines in Botswana have a tendency of retrenching people at the last minute and always without prior warning. This is not a good thing. We have been expressing our concerns to them (employers) several times, but they simply turn a deaf ear, “ he said. He said that usually companies choose to notify the labour commissioner about their plans on retrenching employees without employees or unions’ knowledge. “Our laws here are not on our side as workers. It worries us because jobs are meant to empower people not to punish them and make them poor. “When people are cut from jobs, they have problems servicing their debts.
“ Something should be done about our laws so that they can protect employees”, said Malele.
Malele said that usually companies would have established that there would be low production about five years beforehand before but decide to keep quite. “Companies should learn to discuss the problem well on time so that something can be agreed between them and the employees, “ said Malele.
He said that recently at Moolman Mine and Galane Gold, workers were retrenched and rumours still persist that the companies are expected to conduct further re-structuring, which might result in more workers losing their jobs.
Meanwhile Malele disclosed that at the moment 30 employees of Fourie Investment, a company doing mining for Debswana and African Copper (Mowana Mine), are to know their fate soon as their contract with Debswana is coming to an end this month.
Currently Fourie has three running projects; one at Orapa employing five workers, one with African Copper with a headcount total of 83, and one at Jwaneng with 68 employees.
He said that on June 24 a meeting was held between the union and the company at which they suggested a workable solution to implement a 12 hour shift at Mowana mine, running four days on and four days off.
He revealed that the company said that they are currently awaiting the exact date of completion for the Debswana project, upon which all employees whose contracts are project specific will be duly notified in writing.
He said that prior to the written notification, the union is to address the whole Jwaneng workforce and retrenchment shall affect only those whose contracts are permanent.