Botswana’s diamond mining company and union leaders have failed to make any progress in wage talks as employers refuse to reinstate workers sacked during an illegal strike, officials said Wednesday.
Debswana, a joint venture between the Botswana government and South Africa’s De Beers group, and the 6 000-strong Botswana Mining Workers Union were locked in talks the whole of Tuesday and decided to take a break until Friday.
”We wanted the dismissal case to be discussed at the same time with salary negotiations, but management insisted that we tackle the salary issue first,” said union spokesperson Jack Tlhagale.
”Since we are representing the workers, we asked for a postponement of the talks so that we can go and consult the workers first. We want them to take the decision, not us. It is all about consultation,” he added.
Debswana dismissed about 400 workers during their two-week illegal strike and the union has claimed that several more were sacked when they returned to work on Monday.
Miners in the world’s largest producer of uncut diamonds went on strike on August 23 to press for better wages and a bonus for the workers, who earn on average of 1 600 pula ($330) per month.
Union leaders called off the strike on Saturday at four diamond mines after Debswana said it would not resume contract negotiations unless the workers went back to work.
”We will continue our discussions on Friday on both issues — the wage negotiations and the dismissed employees. The comany is sympathetic to the workers, but at the moment I can not say much until talks resume on Friday,” said Debswana spokesperson Jacob Sesinyi.
”We are offering workers 10% across the board cost of living allowance and 10% of salary production bonus for 2003, with a minimum payout of 3 500 pula (about $650),” he said earlier.
But the unions are insisting that the dismissed workers be included in the offer.
”The dismissed [workers] need to know where they stand. They’ve got families to feed, and if the whole issue drags on it might have a disturbing effect on them,” Tlhagale said.
Diamonds generate 75% of Botswana’s foreign currency earnings. Although unions said the protest had a crippling impact, Debswana maintained that production was unaffected and that it would reach its annual target of 30-million carats. – Sapa-AFP