BMWU, govt standoff lands in court
Tefo Pheage | Tuesday July 5, 2016 15:58
The march was to start at Notwane grounds in Gaborone. According to government spokesperson, Jeff Ramsay, the demonstrations may be disruptive and the government has proposed that they be held in Selebi-Phikwe or be confined to Notwane grounds only.
On Friday the government through the office of the Vice-President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, called the union about cancelling the scheduled hand over of the petition, saying he would rather accept the petition in Selebi-Phikwe. Masisi had initially agreed to meet the petitioners in Gaborone.
Union lawyer Kabo Motswagole said the matter is before Justice Lakvinder Walia. At the time of going to press yesterday, the applicants were still waiting for the time proposed by the court.
Union leaders confirmed to Mmegi that they have received correspondence from OP confirming the last minute changes to their programme.
“We had chosen Gaborone because it is the city of government. We wanted to raise awareness and gather support as well as meet with various leaders and concerned people over this issue.
We had already written to our branches, booked buses and made other arrangements, knowing very well that the petition would take place in Gaborone as confirmed by the government. This sudden change is unfortunate and unacceptable,” said BMWU president Jack Tlhagale.
He continued: “We have already conducted demonstrations in Phikwe where we also petitioned Minister Mokaila and had planned to take this one to Gaborone where the leaders are based. The boardroom strategies of the government to bar us from demonstrating in Gaborone is a clear testimony that the government is not ready and willing to address the problems at BCL mine”.
The union says that the situation at the Mine has gradually deteriorated and requires major changes in the shortest time possible. The issues at hand are productivity and profitability of the company, safety standards together with employees’ morale as well as job losses among many others. Key issues at BCL:
Pay structure
The union wants the responsible minister to find out why the BCL pay structure is ‘top-heavy,’ that is, pays management from MP1 level a lot more than it does the rest of the workforce below, especially union members. Average monthly salary for mine workers is P1,450 after the P50 increment and P90 per month as underground allowance since the last petition in 2014. “These are people who dig copper but earn peanuts. They work in the most risky areas of the mine and suffer many fatal accidents,” it says.
Bad living conditions
The workers have been complaining about the management dragging its feet in converting hostels into studio type single accommodation as per an agreement signed by the two parties in 2014. This form of accommodation, they contend was used by apartheid regime in South Africa, but BCL still uses it to house more than 800 employees who are deprived a chance to stay with their families against their will, the union contends.
Transportation of shaft workers
Miners want to know why transportation of employees at No. 1 and 3 shafts is not being done to the extent that employees have to hire public transport or walk to work. Further, they want to know why the medical boarding package is equivalent to six months’ worth of salary, even though in a majority of cases medical boarding arises from work related causes.
Unsafe mining methods
In this burning issue the union and workers want the government to investigate methods used for mining and lack of compliance with mining regulations, use of fixed term contract employees and lack of training, which compromises mine safety, resulting in frequent fatal accidents witnessed at the mine. Miners continue to lose their lives at the mine to date.