Hardly two years since a previous retrenchment happened at Botswana Power Corporation, the power utility seems poised for another round of laying off staff.
Reports reaching this publication suggest that BPC is expected to lay off some of its staff due to the financial crisis that the organization is experiencing.
It is reported that on May 5th Botswana Power Corporation Workers Union received a letter from the BPC Management informing them about the retrenchment exercise that is expected to resume next month.
Botswana Power Corporation Workers Union said it is shocked at the proposed exercise.
The Secretary General of the union Bahithetswe Lentswe told The Telegraph on Monday that BPC is considering retrenching some staff members.
He said although the Union is in the dark on the exercise, sometime early last month BPC management wrote a letter to the Union informing them that the Corporation is considering laying off some employees and the exercise is expected to commence in July.
He indicated that close to 200 employees are likely to be affected by the exercise.
He stated that the union wants to be consulted in an appropriate manner and proposed that both parties should sit around a table and map a way forward.
“What surprises us is the fact BPC stated in their letter that there are positions that are redundant but they did not specify those positions. We asked them to tell us about those positions ┬áthat they claim to be redundant,” said Lentswe.
Lentswe stated that retrenchment is a very sensitive matter that needs to be approached with caution as it affects employees emotionally.
He stated that as the union they don’t condone retrenchment as they believe that people should be redeployed to other departments within the Corporation instead of losing jobs.
He said that he is hopeful that both parties will negotiate in good faith so that there is no winner or loser.
In 2013 about 52 employees who were mainly based at Moruple A were retrenched and the organization spent about P30 million in the exercise. 
