No End To Botash, BMWU Wage Dispute

Chakalisa Dube | Monday August 24, 2020 12:53

 

No End To Botash, BMWU Wage Dispute

The Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) and Botash management met on Wednesday at the District Labour Office in Sowa Town in a bid to settle the wage dispute.

After failing to agree on the increment the two parties declared a dispute and ultimately resolved to take their differences to the district labour office for mediation.

 “At the meeting the mine indicated that it is on the right track to recovery.

The management was adamant that the mine would continue doing well until the end of the year. However, the mine declined to sign a settlement agreement committing itself to effecting the salary increment as proposed by the union. The management requested to be given until the end of August to review the company’s performance before deciding as to whether an increment should be effected or not,” BMWU deputy secretary general, Maenge Maenge said.

Botash is said to have posted revenue amounting to P82 million in June and P85 million in July according to the BMWU.

“We found it unreasonable that the mine said that it will continue doing relatively well until the end of the year, but was reluctant to sign the settlement agreement,” Maenge said.

Maenge said the union and the mine would meet again on September 1, 2020 at the labour office to discuss the settlement. He expressed hope that the mine will agree to implement the proposed increment at the mediation hearing.

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 brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Botash managing director, Kangangwane Phatshwane said yesterday he could not discuss details of the mediation process between the mine and the union. “I will be undermining the mediation process by discussing its details with the media,” he said.