More Than 181 Workers Lose Their Jobs

By Baboki Kayawe
Staff Writer | Monday February 8, 2010 00:00

 

According to a former staff committee member, who did not want his particulars disclosed, the salary structure at the wholesale is haphazard. He said they wrote a letter to the management and to their dismay they were told to communicate in Setswana by the administration manager. The committee member also said they wanted to have talks over the issue but the management was not willing to engage in dialogue.

'One of the problems that we had, was that there was no communication between the management and employees,' he said.

In addition, one of the issues that did not appease the workers was that the management imported labour from India, and locals in the job had to train them and afterwards they (locals) would lose their jobs to these Indians.

The staff committee member also alleged that the Department of Labour took sides when dealing with the issue, as they only listened to management's side of the story.

 Eric Ditau of the Department of Labour said when the strike started last December, workers wanted a salary increment but the whole issue took another twist on December 31, when workers wanted the management to give them a 13th cheque. He refuted allegations that the department has not listened to both parties.

'As the Labour Department we advised workers to hold talks with the management, but they preferred to do it through writing a letter,' he said.

Ditau said their case is complicated because apart from the salary increment they were also striking for the bonus, the food basket and loans that the management had arranged for; which they did not want to pay as stipulated by management.