Six trade unions threaten strike

MASERU-SIX textile trade unions have threatened to roll out massive protests against Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro next Friday for failing to pay M800 allowances to workers during the lockdown.

The unions say Dr Majoro must fulfil promises made by his predecessor, Thomas Thabane, to pay the workers the allowance.
Their threat comes a week after the government said workers who are now back at work will not be paid.

The textile unions argue that most companies that have resumed operations are not paying full wages as a result of the downward spiral in operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a hard-hitting statement, the unions said they expect nothing short of the M800 that Thabane promised them.

“It is unfair,” Tšepang Makakole, speaking on behalf of the unions, about the government’s decision not to pay those who are back at work.
Thabane made a firm promise that his government had established a relief fund which amongst others, would meet the factory workers halfway by giving them M800 each for the next three months.
The unions said Dr Majoro had kept Keketso Rantšo as Labour Minister even though they had expressed concerns about her competence and wanted her out.

Two weeks ago the unions gave the new Prime Minister 14 days to remove Rantšo from the ministry or face mass protests.
“She is incompetent,” they said at a press conference.
The unions also demanded answers from Dr Majoro why Rantšo had not issued a gazette on minimum wages, which they had been fighting for since February.

“We want her removed or reshuffled from the Labour Ministry,” Sam Mokhele, secretary general of the National Clothing and Textile Workers Union (NACTWO), said.
Workers say they are not satisfied with Rantšo because in their view, she takes sides with the employers.
They want Dr Majoro to give them his stance over what they said was Rantšo’s “negligence of the private sector”.
The unions also demanded the setting up of a social security scheme for all workers.

They also want a review of the Labour Code.
The six unions, United Textile Employees (UNITE), Lentsoe la Sechaba, Lesotho Workers Association (LEWA), Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL) and the National Clothing Textile and Allied Workers Union (NACTWU) said they want Dr Majoro to address the issue of skills transfer.

Staff Reporter