Striking PASDEC employees return to work
Tumelo Mouwane | Thursday June 15, 2017 16:04
The ruling ended the seven-day strike, after workers downed tools protesting the dismissal of two Employees’ Committee members.
The committee chairperson, Kabelo Phuthego and his deputy, Oarabile Motlhalamme were dismissed from work following a mass meeting which they allegedly conducted with the employees on June 8 during working hours.
The company’s public relations officer, Mike Mortimer told Mmegi the situation is normal and workers are all back on duty.
He said the matter had been finalised at the Industrial Court. “Everything is going well and the case that was before the courts was finalised yesterday (Tuesday).
We have gone through a mediation stage and everything has been sorted,” Mortimer said. He however declined to state the company’s losses during the strike period, saying the information was private.
For his part, Phuthego said workers’ concerns had been addressed at the court. “We have returned to work and we are happy.
The court has issued an order instructing the company to credit our back pays and adhere to the salary increment agreements we had with them. “They have been given until July 31 to have obeyed the court orders,” he said.
The recent strike was PASDEC’s third since its establishment in 2015. In the recent action, workers continued striking even after their demands for their leaders’ reinstatement were complied with.
Workers said they were protesting low wages, overtime backpays and safety. PASDEC management took the matter to the Industrial Court on urgency seeking an interdiction of the strike.