BMWU denies double standards in wage deals
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday July 29, 2014 12:46
However Union spokesperson, Joseph Tsimako has denied any double standards in the salary negotiations. In an interview he said the BMWU does not have a bargaining council and instead there are several negotiating teams for each branch or mine. “Our demands for increases differ across the mines and it depends on the mandate given from the members of a particular branch,” he said. “Therefore in this case, the BCL branch has demanded an increase of 15 percent for the current financial year. It would be a double standard if there was a negotiating council in place.” He said other branches where negotiations have been concluded, were not initially offered the amounts they eventually walked away with. Tsimako explained that in the mines where they signed for six percent such as TNMC, the Union considered that the minimum wage there is P3,000 and therefore a six percent increase would make a difference, “unlike at BCL where the minimum wage is P1,800”.
He also noted that BCL conducts its own mining and is viewed as a “big company” unlike mines which contract out.
“BCL is a big company doing owner mining and negotiations in all big mining companies have been concluded except BCL,” he said.
“We can agree on a review with BCL and allow for time implementation after a budget has been concluded depending on the Mine’s position. We are not trying to be rigid but we hope the two of us can reach common ground.”
Tsimako said unionists expect their planned strike to bring about changes at BCL in as far as remuneration is concerned. Unionists warned a fortnight ago that they were proceeding to a legal strike as they were hopelessly deadlocked with management at BCL.
“The machine men who lost their jobs during the 2006 strike had embarked on an illegal strike which was not protected hence they lost their jobs. We are currently doing our best to ensure job protection,’ he added.
Tsimako said the case of the 2006 dismissed machine men is currently before the industrial court awaiting judgment.