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17 July, 2005
Members of ICEM affiliate BMWU took to the streets in Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana, 3 December over another mining dispute. This one is with Bamangwato Concession Ltd. (BCL), a copper, nickel and cobalt miner in eastern Botswana that sacked the entire 16-member bargaining committee of the BMWU branch last July following negotiations.
The company sacked the union team because they possessed financial information on the firm’s mining operations. Such information is generally considered essential for unions in bargaining.
Although most of the branch leaders have been recalled, BCL still refuses to rehire four—bargaining chairman and Deputy BMWU National Chair Golekanye Mogende, Kabelo Oitsile, Abel Bukha and Kealeboga Keakantse. BMWU timed the mass protest in which 2,000 turned out with BCL’s unveiling of a new company logo.