BCL Confirms Job-shedding
Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday April 18, 2016 16:57
The mine’s public relations and marketing manager, James Molosankwe confirmed to The Monitor that the mine will be retrenching its employees in due course.
He said that issuing employees with letters is part of the process the mine should follow to notify them.
In the letters to the workers, the number of employees to be retrenched would only be known once the mine completes the design stage and full confirmation of the operational requirements as informed by the new production plans. The new production plan is expected to be finalised by the end of this month and be completed by the end of June.
According to the letter authored by the mine’s Divisional Manager-Organisational Capabilities, Motsile Sibanda, the selection criteria for retrenchment will be as per the provisions of the redeployment and retrenchment agreement and will be shared with unions and employees during the course of the consultation process.
“Specific notice of retrenchment to any specified groups of employees will be issued to the affected and communicated to the unions this month with a view to execute all labour reductions within the stipulated time frame. Details of the severance pay, retrenchment benefits and assistance due to retrenched employees will be provided to the affected upon briefings if not within the retrenchment agreement and will be clearly stated on the final letters of termination,” reads the letter in part.
The letter further states that BCL mine is unable to provide any guarantees in respect of the future re-employment of employees who will be retrenched but will abide by the recall provisions of the redeployment and retrenchment agreement.
Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) held a general meeting with its members on Wednesday afternoon in which they finalised preparations for the mass demonstration that will be held today (Monday).
The match that was initially intended for the attention of the BCL board chairperson Akolang Tombale but has now been elevated to the Minister of Minerals Energy and Water Resources Kitso Mokaila, is calling for the expulsion of the mine management for failure to provide effective measures to save the mine in readiness for commodity market upturn and preserve sustainable jobs.
The petition among others demand findings of the explorations that the mine embarked on as part of the Polaris 11 strategy and calls for the dismissal of the whole EXCO team.
Employees called on the union to be careful on how retrenched workers exit packages will be calculated and even engaged a consultant to monitor the exercise to ensure that nobody is cheated. They wanted to know the criteria that will be used to retrench, as they feared that those in charge are likely to victimise some workers on basis of personal vendettas.
Union members also felt that remaining employees would also need some protection as they are likely to be dismissed for minor offences, as the mine would be avoiding paying their dues.
“We also want in writing the system that will be used to calculate all the dues so that everything becomes transparent. We also want to know how much money was spent on all the explorations that the mine embarked on because we are the ones who generated the money that was used,” they said.
Workers also want the whole senior management gone including the board chairman, charging that it is not lower ranked employees, but the bosses who earn huge salaries. They also wondered why those retrenched employees could not be seconded to the Selkirk open pit (resource at Tati Nickel Mine) that BCL has taken up. BMWU has also invited Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) and other labour movements to drum up the peaceful demonstration next week.
Initiatives that the mine has embarked on in the process to reorganise its operations in view of the unfavourable business climate include halting of recruitment for non-critical vacancies, prioritisation and suspension of some projects and some contracted services, total revision of operating budgets and controls on authorising levels for order items.
Sibanda’s letter states that the reorganisation exercise is an initiative meant to sustain the operations in order to avoid total closure of the mine.
It further states that management has made a decision to proceed with the redundancies after a review of the current operating model and organisational structure. “Redundancies may affect all employees or select groups of employees where a clear and compelling business case to continue with that section of business is prevalent,” it reads.
Sibanda further states that the company intends to discharge its obligation in this regard in good faith and within the confines of the legislative requirements and has commenced consultations with the unions. He added that alternatives to retrenchment that would be raised during the process of consultation would be considered accordingly.