Bosai workers strike ahead of likely retrenchment

Aug 07, 2015 News

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Bosai workers yesterday proceeded on strike in protest against the planned issuance of retrenchment letters to nearly four dozen of them today.
The peaceful demonstration commenced in front of the company’s north gate, and later ended at the Regional Democratic Council, where the workers were briefly addressed by Regional Chairman Renis Morian.
According to the workers, 47 of them are expected to be issued retrenchment letters.
They are however adamant that they will not accept the “paltry package” being offered by Bosai, and vowed to continue industrial action until the company reviews the situation.
One worker contended that since 2008 some workers who had been working eight-hour shifts, had their hours of work increased by four hours, making it twelve-hour shifts.
“Moving a worker from eight hours to twelve hours automatically is a seventy-five percent increase, because that is equivalent to four hours plus premium. But the company did not honour that, what they did was just add on a little more money on the salary, and say that is your twelve-hour (pay).
“These employees had worked twelve-hour shifts before and were getting the overtime pay. But in 2008, management just come and say, ‘from today on, you’re working the twelve hour’. Now if your money was $100,000 dollars it reduced to $70,000. I want to know what happen to the rest of the money. The company right now underpaying a set of staff. This nonsense must stop.”

‘Now we talking about the retrenchment – all the persons will be affected because of the age factor (the elderly), because management say that they  will be using the age factor, they’re not looking at who come first, last or what – now if you’re using the age factor, then all the elderly people should be given redundancy, because they are not coming back to work with the company and you cannot hold them at ransom. As a matter of fact, the entire workforce want redundancy package, they don’t want no retrenchment package.”
It was pointed out that the retrenchment package would be two weeks’ pay for every year a worker was employed by the company.
“When they hold thirty percent and then the Government takes out another thirty percent tax, the people ain’t getting no kind’a money, those who work five years gon end up with $150,000. They’re loosing people on the road with just $150,000 – it cannot compensate. So if you loosing people, give them redundancy package and let them go on with their life.
Another worker posited that Bosai’s management had made agreements with both the Union and the regional Chairman, but had disregarded those agreements and are going forward with the issuing of retrenchment letters. The worker stressed that Bosai could have explored other options, but stuck to their decision to retrench forty-seven employees, despite the fact that a few staffers had resigned.
Some workers raised the issue of monies owed to them by the company. According to them, they are owed bonus and sick leave money for over two years.  They are demanding that the company do the right thing and pay them.
As regards the situation with the workers, Chairman of Region 10, Renis Morian said that he had attended a meeting with the Ministry of Labour where it had been pointed out that the Bosai employees had requested two conditions – one; that the “big men that wanted to go home” be given their pension or redundancy and two; “let there be voluntary separation as the workers did not trust the fact that a Supervisor had to pick eight. They felt such a thing would be more subjective than objective, as some good men might be ‘thrown out” because they might not be on good terms with the supervisor.
Morian added that when he called Bosai yesterday, an official of the company said that there had been no agreement at the Ministry of Labour.
“While there might not have been an agreement, the last word from the Union was let there be voluntary separation, let the big men go, and Bosai did not make an objection, so the labour Ministry accepted that as the suggestion. Bosai is saying now they don’t have an agreement.
So the workers now hearing that they will get letters after all that was discussed, hence they decided to strike.”
Morian further reported that he was shown some figures by Bosai, purporting to be sales figures, but he rejected them because they were not audited figures, and so he could not determine their authenticity.
“So here I am, the workers are in front of my office and so I’ve called for a mediator – Minister Simona Broomes, who is expected to be here at three o’clock, to meet with Bosai, the Workers and people from her Ministry.
Morian reiterated the call for the contract between Bosai and the Government to be reviewed, as the contract seemed not to be in favour of the workers.
He said that as Regional Chairman, he had no knowledge what the contract means or says as it relates to the workers of the Region.  Again Morian emphasized the need for a “win- win” situation.
In a meeting with Morian on Tuesday, Bosai executives had contended that retrenchment is presently their only option, given the decrease in Bauxite sales, the high cost of freight to markets, and the fact that the company had only been operating one Kiln since last year July.

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