Wage negotiations between workers at Botswana’s four diamond mines and mining company Debswana were settled on Monday on its terms, the company said at a press conference.
”The Botswana Mining Workers’ Union (BMWU) has accepted our offer of a 10% cost of living wage increase across the board, a 10% of salary production bonus for 2003 with a minimum payout of 3 500 pula,” the company chief negotiator and general manager of Jwaneng mine, Seb Sebetela said.
Debswana did not agree to reinstate workers who had been fired for striking illegally at the beginning of a two week work stoppage which started after the wage talks deadlocked.
The number of those workers was on Monday given as 451, a correction on the ”400 to 450” released earlier. However, 133 workers had been re-employed.
”The others are free to apply for the jobs which are still vacant but will stand alongside other applicants,” Sebetela said.
”They will not get any special consideration. Those who are employed will start as new employees, with new employment contracts.”
With ”broken service” the workers will lose years of service when calculating pensions and other benefits. They will only get full reinstatement if they win a court battle challenging the fact that the strike was illegal.
The reinstatement was the issue that dragged the strike out to become the longest ever at the mines. Even before it started, the Industrial Court ruled any strike would be illegal. Thirty three union officials were subsequently charged with contempt of court for striking illegally and faced jail terms, which still hang over them.
The union contends that the strike was legal, which has stayed a hearing on the officials’ committal for contempt of court.
A Court of Appeal hearing set down for Thursday has been postponed to September 24.
”The settlement will not to affect those hearings, we are preparing to argue them,” Debswana group human resources manger Paul Gahagan said.
”But, if it is ruled that the strike was legal, we will reinstate all the workers.” – Sapa