Patricia Maganu
6 November 2008
Francistown — Unitrans employees in Francistown and Palapye have returned to work after talks with managing director, Mike Steel.
Unitrans drivers went on strike on Monday claiming ill-treatment and low wages. They returned to work because 'the director promised that he would take their issues into consideration before the end of the month'.
"He said they will pay the allowances and there are some documents that were created to show that he is going to act," according to one of the drivers at Unitrans, Maxon Mohibidu.
He went on to say that the employees agreed that they would go to work before the second meeting that will be held in the coming two weeks.
"We decided and agreed that as long as he had addressed us like we wanted, and he took our issues into consideration, we would go back to work for the sake of production," he added.
"He promised to do that so we are giving this chance so we are going back to work for the sake of production," said Mohibidu.
The Unitrans strike affected companies like Debswana, Chevron, BP, Total and others.
The employees say they have been pleading with management about low wages since 2000. They said they are paid a pittance compared to their South African counterparts who make 'thousands' in a week.
"But we all do the same job of traveling, putting our lives at risk and spending while we are on the road but we do not understand why the money has to be different," he stated.
Mohibidu says that their next meeting will be held in two weeks when they will talk about how the new changes to salaries and allowances will be implemented.
However, employees in Gaborone are said to be still refusing to go back to work, even after the address.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
