Debswana mulls over union wage demand

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Wednesday May 12, 2010 00:00

 

Although union and mine management officials are mum on details, it is understood the miners are seeking a wage review 'significantly' higher than the four percent awarded to workers last December. Union officials say they only accepted the four percent as they empathised with the company's poor financial position after a blighting recession that shrank mining by 27 percent.

However, with the 2010/11 financial year wage negotiations kicking off in Jwaneng last week, unionists have reportedly armed themselves with statistics showing an upswing in diamond mining. The unionists, Mmegi has learnt, have pointed to Debswana's plans to increase production to 20 million carats from 17.7 million in 2009 and the sharp rise in gemstone prices as seen at the Diamond Trading Company Botswana.

Another diamond producer, Gem Diamonds, this week said the value of its rough had risen by an average 225 percent in the first quarter of the year. Yesterday, Deputy Secretary General of BMWU, Sebataladi Ramoitoi, said the Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee (JNCC) comprising the union and Debswana management would meet again next Monday and Tuesday.

He said the union had tabled and submitted its position on several issues at the Jwaneng meeting. 'We brought forward our needs and are waiting for their response,' Ramoitoi said. 'These needs included the review of the wages, revision of salary structures and the total package. Task teams were set up in 2008 to look into the last two, but we could not further discuss.

Hence we want to engage on them again.'Ramoitoi explained that negotiations around the total package include issues such as incorporating various allowances into basic salaries and pensions.Another hot potato in the JNCC negotiations this year is the revision of the retrenchment agreement which governs the conditions and formula for retrenchment packages. The revision is crucial as it will be used in retrenchments anticipated as a result of Debswana's ongoing operational review.

'This agreement is old - from 2008 - and with the impending operational review, we have to speed up the process,' said Ramoitoi. 'Many things have changed since 2008 and it's imperative that if people leave this year, they are using a new retrenchment agreement. We have given Debswana our views and they have also given us theirs. Next time we meet, we will discuss this matter.'

Last year, 3,471 workers lost their jobs in mining, leaving the industry with 15,359 workers at the end of 2009, down from 18,830 at the end of 2008.