08 Jul 2018

The Minister of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development Mr Tshenolo Mabeo says he is not aware that employees at Makoro Brick and Tile (Pty) Ltd are denied the right to unionise.

Answering a question from the MP for Gaborone North Mr Haskins Nkaigwa, Mr Mabeo said his ministry had established that the employees were in fact unionised, but their union had not been recognised for bargaining purposes since it did not meet the one third of the employees of the employer as stipulated under Section 48 of the Trade Union and Employers; Organisations Act.In addition, Minister Mabeo said he was not aware that majority of those employees had been working for the company for more than 15 years on one month contracts respectively. 

He noted that what was on the ground was that Makoro had a mining section and work on this section was seasonal.

He said they only engaged workers on fixed term contracts when it was safe to mine the clay they used as raw material for their production and the number of the workers vary from time to time. He said currently there were 68 workers on fixed term contracts out of a total work force of 358. 

The fixed term contracts he said were valid from one month to 12 months and the number was currently high because the company had an urgent order for Namibia and South Africa, he said.

Meanwhile Minister Mabeo said the last labour inspection at the site was conducted on April 13, 2016. Currently, he said  Makoro Brick  had employed 12 non-citizens in the positions of production manager (1), sales and technical manager (1), Dehacking supervisors (2), engineer (1), industrial electricians (2), boilermakers (1), fitter and turner mechanists class 1 (2) and diesel hydraulic attendants (2).

He noted that a Point Based system was used to assess the suitability of applicants, adding that work permit issuance was based on merit and determined by the availability of the required skill at the time in the local labour market.

The minister further explained that all the positions that were held by expatriates had understudies attached to them as per the Training and Localisation Plan submitted to the Department of Labour and Social security on March 16, 2017. 

He said prior to the current localisation there were 30 expatriates, now there are 12 expatriates, explaining that 18 positions were localised during the previous plan ending March 31, 2018. 

He said the plan was updated annually to facilitate skills transfer.

Minister Mabeo said he was not aware of the issue on unpaid overtime as his ministry had not received any trade dispute from any employee of this company.  Mr Nkaigwa had asked the minister why employees at Makoro Brick and Tile were denied the right to unionise, if he was aware that the majority of those employees had been working for the company for more than 15 years on one month contracts respectively and when the last inspection was conducted.

He also asked the minister if he was aware that despite the availability of skilled and experienced Batswana the posts of plant manager, plant foreman, electricians, boilermakers, fitter and diesel attendants are still held by foreigners and if he was aware that employees work overtime on a shift basis and were not duly paid. BOPA