BTCL workers prepare for strike

The country could be plunged into communication blackout during the festive season unless Botswana Telecommunication Corporation Limited (BTCL) resolves workers’ grievances.

As the Botswana Telecommunication Employees Union (BOTEU) goes for its annual general meeting tomorrow topmost on its agenda is to lobby other Unions for an industrial action in the event BTCL management does not concede to their demands. BOTEU also plans to petition Transport and Communications minister, BTCL Board and management to have all the pending restructuring issues dealt with before the IPO. “If they do not resolve these unionists are calling for an industrial action.

The country is likely to be plunged into communication blackout during the festive season because all unionists are vying for that,” said the insider. The union is also calling for a commission of inquiry into the recent restructuring to find out whether things were done properly. They want the minister to set up a committee which will include a representative of the employees. It is also demanding that BTCL CEO should come out in the open about the restructuring mix up, failing which the Union leadership will consider him unworthy to be CEO.

The Union has vowed to identify all the managers who are anti-union and label them enemies, and is determined to blacklist them by any means necessary. It is these tensions between the Union and management that are souring appetite among potential investors for the new equity listing by (BTCL).A close source told this publication that repeated postponements of the initial public offer (IPO) by BTCL has little to do with public understanding of listing and preparedness as claimed by BTCL and the IPO legal advisor, Rizwan Desai of Collins and Newman.

“All the necessary foundation has been laid and everything is on course.BTCL is a large corporation with international obligations and as such has to undergo scrutiny of stringent regulations which would end up delaying the public listing,” said Desai in November.But the source said BTCL has not submitted its financial books for approval to the relevant authorities. The IPO postponements are also blamed on BTCL high ranking officers, who are allegedly positioning themselves.

However, Desai, IPO refuted these allegations. Meanwhile BOTEU has vowed to leave no stone unturned on the Employee Share Option Plan including anomalies linked to the restructuring exercise. “We want to see an ESOP which is beneficial to employees at large.
We are also critical of how the share ratio and allocation will be applied. We are happy that the IPO has been postponed,” said a source. He added that senior managers are able to cash from their gratuities and buy the shares.

“As the lower ranks we want to be given an option to use our funds from our pensions to buy the shares,” said a Union insider. Approached for comment BOTEU President Vesterpen Lesole without said, “We have an internal dispute resolution mechanism. As a Union we uphold those mechanisms but once they are exhausted that is when we can go external. Going to court is one of the external dispute mechanisms.” The much anticipated BTCL IPO was postponed again last week from December 31 to a later date not mentioned. Former Minister, Nonofo Molefhi at his last briefing with the media in October, told BG that come rain or sunshine, the IPO would not be postponed.

At the time, it was set for November 7th. It was only in November when his same ministry issued a statement for postponement to December 31st, claiming that the general public is not ready for the IPO as yet citing lack of funds.