The owners of Khoemacau copper mine near Maun have been urged to intervene in salary talks with the Botswana Mining Workers Union (BMWU) to break a protracted wage impasse and avert a possible strike.
The union also advised MMG, the new owners of Khoemacau, to disclose information on the distribution of wage bill across board to help them negotiate.
A letter by BMWU Secretary General Mbiganyi Gaekgotswe addressed to MMG Executive General Manager of Operations, Nan Wang, points to an urgent need for intervention in wage negotiations. The letter notes that BMWU had previously met with mine management in March this year.
MMG, a Chinese mining firm acquired Khoemacau recently.
“During the negotiation, the union requested information in terms of the Trade Union and Employers Organisation Act total wage bill distributed by Job Categories – Exco, Middle Management, and Bargaining unit. Therefore, management refused to provide us with that information,” he said.
Gaekgotswe said the information was aimed at assisting the union in formulating its mandate and being able to negotiate from an informed position.
“During the cooling-off period, KCM Management went on to increase salaries for non-unionised employees while negotiations are ongoing. This action shows that KCM management undermines the Union and the Joint Negotiating and Consultation Committee forum and also violates the Memorandum of Agreement,” he said. He added that they persuaded management, but their position remained unchanged.
“We went in a cooling period and met again on the 11th to 12th April 2024 Management remains unchanged and not negotiable to most of the union demands. The union believes that management is negotiating in bad faith which hinders the union from negotiating in an informed decision or position,” said Gaekgotswe.
He said the union’s position is that “we cannot negotiate what already has been offered to other employees outside the negotiating forum, once Management offers to the union what they offered to the non-unionized, the union is ready to negotiate to all items tabled for negotiations.”
“We further requested the KCM management team to call up the CEO to come to the negotiation table to help the parties conclude the wage negotiations in time as it happened in the past where CEO intervention helped to conclude wages in a week, but Management declined our request and opted to take the route for a dispute in which we feel that the negotiation can be concluded without the intervention of the third party,” said Gaekgotswe.
He further stated that; “This situation we find ourselves in was highlighted during MMG Senior Officials’ introduction to the union and employees in general; we therefore call up your intervention to save the situation and bring hope to your employees.”
In his response to Gaekgotswe, Wang indicated that; “It is not appropriate for KCM or, for that matter, MMG to share information on non-union employee salaries and benefits and I understand this is not a practice with peer companies.”
In addition, he said, “I understand that this matter is also before the Industrial court. I understand you have however been provided with detailed cost breakdown information in relation to your constituency during the negotiation.”
He said non-bargaining unit staff were provided with performance-based salary increases given the delay in negotiations.
“The Company is keen to reach resolution on the wage rate adjustments and expedite back pay to 1 January 2024 as soon as possible. At the April meeting the Company position was increased to 4.8 percent including allowances demonstrating our willingness to bargain in good faith,” said Wang.
He said the Site’s Senior Leadership Team has our full mandate to negotiate this through to its conclusion consistent set out in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Khoemacau and the BMWU.
“This accountability at operational management level for wage rate negotiations is consistently applied across all our operations. As explained above, I am confident that agreement can be reached during the negotiation session arranged for early June, to ensure swift payment of wage adjustment to employees,” said Wang.
He further stated that; “I would like to further reiterate my support of the Khoemacau Leadership Team to resolve this matter consistent with the MOA processes. MMG will continue to provide support to Khoemacau Copper Mine to improve its current level of performance to ensure we safely meet our production targets in a tough financial year.”
He said, “ I have every confidence that the Khoemacau senior leadership can work with you to resolve this important issue and the wage rate adjustments can be made to employees.”
