BR and Union bury the hatchet?

The acrimonious relationship between the Botswana Railways and Botswana Railways Amalgamated Workers Union is settling down, Botswana Guardian has been informed. The two have been at loggerheads since the BR announced its restructuring exercise that is meant to retrench 147 of the 840 staff members.

This paper can reveal that BR management and Union executive met from Monday until Thursday at Cresta Hotel for consultation. The process was extended to Tuesday and Wednesday at BRAWU offices in Mahalapye.

The consultation process followed a ruling by Industrial Court Judge Isaac Bahumi early this year after the Union took management to court with claims of not being consulted over the exercise, which the latter denied.

A staff letter signed by Industrial Relations Manager Moses Bagayi and General Secretary Tsenang Nfila last week informed members that discussions focused on the organisational structure and that ‘to this end, good progress has been achieved.’ In a related development, further consultative meetings have been planned.

The reconciliation however faces a huge test as insiders say the BR executive management is already implementing the new payment structure and has filled positions in the newly created departments of General Management, Operations and Engineering, Human Capital, Business Development as well as Finance and Corporate Services.

In fact it is alleged that these positions were filled as way back as October last year, as attested by a staff note informing employees of the appointments last month. The phased-out structures are Finance, Corporate Services, Operations, Mechanical Services, Marketing and General Management.