Botash finally dances to BMWU tune

Chakalisa Dube | Thursday September 10, 2020 10:46

 

For sometime the union and Botash management have been at loggerheads over the salary increase for employees.

Mmegi has since learnt that the wage increase will be backdated to April this year. The parties were to meet for salary talks at the district labour office in Sua Town for the second time last week.

That was after Botash (at the initial meeting held in August) requested to be given until the end of August to review the company’s performance before deciding as to whether an increment would be effected or not. However, the second meeting did not materialise according to BMWU.

“We were supposed to meet with the mine management for salary for the second time at the district labour office last week. The meeting did not take place because the mine management called the union and made a commitment that the salary increase will now be implemented,” said BMWU secretary general Maenge Maenge in a recent interview. 

The salary increase was supposed to effect from April 1, this year. However, the mine management notified the union of its inability to implement the agreement due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both parties had agreed on a salary increase of 4 percent across the board as well as increasing the shift allowance by 4 percent for employees on the F19 scale. The standby allowance was to be increased by 4 percent for the employees on the F19 scale.

However, early in June, Botash offered to increase the employees’ salaries only on condition that the mine meets monthly baseline revenue of P85 million for three consecutive months or 90 days.

At the end of 90 days the mine also wanted to be given the liberty to assess the performance outlook and projections to determine implementation. The matter was then taken to the district labour office after the union shunned a proposal from Botash.

Botash managing director Kangangwani Phatshwane recently said he couldn’t comment on the salary talks in the media.