Botswana’s mining houses, especially the two leading ones, Debswana and BCL, should find ways to nurture and work hand in hand with their in-house trade unions.
It is in their interest to do so.
As we write this piece, BCL management and the union are involved in a protracted and debilitating industrial relations dispute.
The stand off is likely to affect the performance of BCL, a company that was on a steady way to a rebound, following years of a slump, induced by low commodity prices, during which time it could not operate without endless capital injections from the shareholders (the government of Botswana being one of them.)
It would seem like Managements of these mining power houses, still have to be taken to crash courses on the benefits of trade unions.
They seem to be locked in the ancient philosophy that powerful unions are irritants that have to be crushed.
In fact, its not altogether untrue to say that management, in these companies, have been involved in sowing seeds of rivaly and internal discontent inside the unions by way of illegal sponsorships of ill constituted representatives.
To management of these companies, unions are a source of disruption at the work place.
Contrary to that, recent research shows that powerful and accountable unions that are properly run could actually contribute to peaceful industrial relations, thereby making the management’s job of growing the shareholder value a much easier and enjoyable task.
Weak and sidelined unions, on the other hand, can easily be a source of intense jockeying and workplace disruption.
We single out Debswana and BCL, not only because of the recent industrial relations disputes, but also because of the strategic importance these two entities play in the overall economy of Botswana.
Debswana’s importance needs not be emphasized.
As for BCL, it is disheartening that, just when the nation was sighing with relief that the company is finally finding its feet, thanks to rising nickel prices as a result of demand in the Far East, the company could now find itself dogged by what is, otherwise, an avoidable industrial relations stand off.
We want to emphasise that the true casualties of such disputes are not just the bottom lines of the companies and their management, but their credibility as well.
It would seem like mining houses are bent on humiliating their workers.
The development reached a climax two years back, during a protracted dispute between Debswana and their employees.
The company management snubbed President Mogae’s interventions and shrugged off all calls for restraint.
They, instead, opted to take the legal recourse.
In the end, they (Debswana management) won and sacked close to five hundred employees.
Our view is that, as much as the courts found that their actions were “legal,” it must be added that their actions also went a long way in undermining as to kill the goodwill Debswana worked hard to build over the years.
The situation is made worse as to be inhuman when one gets to remember that a good number of the employees sacked were people receiving the anti retroviral HIV/AIDS drugs under a programme the company launched, amid large fanfare, when it (Debswana) became the first in the country to start such a project.
It is regrettable that no initiatives have ever been made to ascertain what became of such people’s lives after they left Debswana.
This is, of course, not to speak of the school going dependents of the sacked employees.
Once again, there is no doubt that Debswana has won all the legal battles.
We shall, however, never know if the company won at the courts because they had secured the services of good lawyers (thanks to their access to infinite financial resources) or whether it was because the unions’ actions intrinsically violated the law.
But that is neither here nor there.
The import of our concern here is that executive management in these companies has to go a step further in internalizing the crucial role that unions can play in the improvement of productivity in their entities.
We are in no way absolving unions, especially their leadership, from their responsibilities to both to their members and to the very survival of the companies.
Union leaders have to be trained to appreciate that, while retaining their independence, and, of course, their ultimate allegiance being to their members, they also have a huge role in assisting managements in ensuring that the companies from which they, too, derive their livelihoods retain viability.
We urge these companies, Debswana and BCL, in particular, to invest in training shop stewards who, in turn, will train members on the role of trade unions at the work place.
We urge unions to also become more responsible in the handling of their grievances.
Humiliating each other will bring no solutions.
