By ‘Majirata Latela
More than 400 China Geo employees working on the Monontṧa-Marakabei road construction in Botha Bothe are finally back at work following a six-week long strike where they were demanding a salary increment and good working conditions.
According to Construction, Mining and Allied Workers Union (CMQ), secretary general, Robert Mokhahlane all workers have gone back to work while negotiations are continuing between the union and the company’s management.
He said they came to the decision to end the strike after realising that it was taking too long without an agreement with the employer. He said the union and the workers are going to prepare themselves to see how best they can approach their demands.
“On the salary increase issue, the employer has agreed to increase salaries by 10 percent and we are waiting to see the difference in the salaries this coming pay day. Only then we will be in a position to tell if the employer has fulfilled his promises to us.
“Since the workers were also not getting paid while on strike, we thought it was important for them to get back to work while we continue negotiations. We are also happy that we are now negotiating not only with the employer but the (Lesotho) Employers Association; at least they know the laws of Lesotho and they are better placed to negotiate with the workers,” Mokhahlane said.
He added that on August 11 2022 the union had planned to hold a rally at Marakabei and had invited the Prime Minister, the minister of labour, the minister of public works, local chiefs and the members of parliament. However, the rally did not go ahead as planned as all the invitees never bothered to attend.
Earlier this month, this publication reported that some of the workers at China Geo construction company had returned to work following negotiations and interventions between the company, the ministry of labour and employment and the workers’ union.
This was despite claims by some of the workers who alleged that all the workers were still on strike but they had realized that the company was recruiting new labourers.
“We are still on strike until our issues have been resolved. We have seen and heard that the company is hiring totally new people and we wonder how the employer has reached the decision to bring in new employees while we are still on a lawful strike.
“We are observing the events as they unfold together with our lawyers. We do not understand how this company operates and we still repeat that this Chinese people seem to be drawing strength from the two ministries,” he said.
Mokhahlane told this publication then that: “This is very bad for the strike because if some of the workers are back at work while others are still on strike, the workers who went back to work may experience some form of cohesion. This is because the workers have gone back to work with the terms of the employer not what they are fighting for.”
