Unpensioned workers' plight worries BPS

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Thursday November 4, 2010 00:00

 

The society says the prevalence of 'unpensioned' workers in these industries affects the quality of life after work, driving some retirees into destitution after years of dedicated service. Yesterday, BPS chairperson Paul Masie expressed concern over the persistent high numbers of 'unpensioned' workers in the tourism and mining sectors, saying it was hoped the new Employment Act would help halt the trend.

Unlike the original Employment Act, which compelled employers to pay a severance package only when a worker has worked for 60 continuous months, the amended Act says the worker should be paid a severance package proportionate to the months worked.

'It's sad that there are some sections of industry that do not have adequate retirement fund provisions such as mining and tourism, but hopefully, changes to the Employment Act will hasten these,' he said at the Society's annual retirement fund conference.

'As far as I know, tourism employs 23, 000 people and we have 1, 600 only in pension funds and in mining, there are about the same figures employed and only 10, 000 in pension funds.

'Why should we abandon these human resources when their work life is over? We have read about people who have worked in the mines for 34 years and are now destitute; we need to find ways of curbing this undesirable situation.' According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, 25, 350 people were employed in Botswana's travel and tourism industry by the end of last year, while the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources pegged 2009 employment at 15, 359 workers across mining, quarrying and related industries.

Labour law expert Joseph Masango said the closest the amended Act came to assisting the 'unpensioned' was in sections dealing with severance packages. He advised against the enactment of legislation forcing employers to provide pensions.

'Legislation should be a last resort; you should not legislate for all employers because you could find yourself chasing away investors, both prospective and current. Legislation should only be effected when there is a serious national problem, not when there are concerns about specific sectors.

'In fact, the trend worldwide is that employers are moving away from permanent positions to fixed term contracts.

Many executives are on performance contracts and employers are running away from permanent to the fixed term contracts partly because of the costs involved,' he said.

Masango said a 'vigorous' nationwide campaign sensitising employees about the benefits of pension schemes would be a step in the right direction, as opposed to legislation.