{"id":11790,"date":"2022-03-20T11:21:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-20T11:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/three-injured-in-factory-protests"},"modified":"2022-03-20T11:45:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T11:45:48","slug":"three-injured-in-factory-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/three-injured-in-factory-protests","title":{"rendered":"Three injured in factory protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THREE factory workers were injured during violent clashes with the police in the Thetsane industrial area yesterday. The workers were later admitted at Queen \u2019Mamohato Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n

The police ordered the demonstrators to disperse after they began pelting buildings with stones. They later fired rubber bullets and teargas at the workers.<\/p>\n

The workers were demanding a 20 percent salary raise. They said they were not happy that Labour Minister Moshe Leoma had approved a three percent bump on their wages.<\/p>\n

The workers began singing peacefully in the Thetsane industrial area on Monday. The protest however turned violent the next day. They also vandalized the factories\u2019 equipment, blocking the roads with stones and burning tyres.<\/p>\n

One of the striking workers, \u2019Mateboho Khomo, told thepost that they are fed up with the government whose MPs pay themselves M5 000 petrol allowances but fail to meet their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil today we have not seen last year\u2019s (wages) gazette, what are they doing in their offices?\u201d Khomo said.<\/p>\n

The workers said last year, the unions and employers\u2019 representatives in the Wages Board failed to reach an agreement and the minister was supposed to intervene but failed to do so.<\/p>\n

They said as a result the Labour Ministry did not issue the 2020 wages gazette and no increment was effected. Khomo said they are surprised that the textile unions claim the government wants to offer them three percent after spending the whole year silent on the increment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want 20 percent and we are never going to back down on that issue,\u201d Khomo said.<\/p>\n

Khomo said they are breadwinners in their families as their spouses even lost jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic adding that their strike will continue until their grievances are addressed.<\/p>\n

Her other worry is that their unions are now encouraging some of them to accept the three percent increment. Another striking worker, Thabelo Mokoma, said the last time they received any increment was during the Thomas Thabane administration.<\/p>\n

He accused the current government led by Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro of ignoring them. Mokoma said the government has to issue last year\u2019s wage gazette and this year\u2019s so that they are combined so that workers get paid what they deserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we want is our 20 percent increment as the shops have inflated their prices making life hard,\u201d Mokoma said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that police shoot us when we fight for our rights,\u201d he said. He said their agreement with their unions was that they should propose the 20 percent increment and nothing less.<\/p>\n

The deputy secretary general of the Independent Democratic Unions of Lesotho (Idul), May Rathakane, said they are still in negotiations with the government on the issue of increments.<\/p>\n

Rathakane said the factory workers complain that last year\u2019s gazette was never released as promised by the Minister of Labour. \u201cThey are mainly fighting for last year\u2019s gazette that was delayed by the Covid-19 outbreak,\u201d Rathakane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the gazette to be released there are a lot of things to be done. The workers ended up losing hope and patience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinister Leoma is not clear which side he is on as he seems to understand both the employer and the employee at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201d Rathakane said Leoma\u2019s failure to make a decision when the two sides are deadlocked \u201cdelays the process and it leads to things like this\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that the workers have been demanding the 20 percent increment ever since last year but to no avail. \u201cHonestly there is no reason why last year\u2019s gazette was never released,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said they wrote to the minister on Monday after getting information that the workers wanted to down tools. \u201cI could not have released last year\u2019s minimum wage gazette without first studying what had been happening.<\/p>\n

This is because I found the two sides already fighting I entered office,\u201d Leoma said. He said when he was appointed minister in February, there was a stalemate between employers and unions and had to bring them for discussions \u201cbut still they could not reach any agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called them each week and tried to have them reach an agreement but all was in vain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leoma said today there will be a final sitting after which the chairman of the Wages Advisory Board will go out to consult all stakeholders so that he will be in a good position to advise the minister on the minimum wage. Leoma also accused IDUL of causing the riots at the factories.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THREE factory workers were injured during violent clashes with the police in the Thetsane industrial area yesterday. The workers were later admitted at Queen \u2019Mamohato Memorial Hospital. The police ordered the demonstrators to disperse after they began pelting buildings with stones. They later fired rubber bullets and teargas at the workers. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245,483],"class_list":["post-11790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-workers"],"yoast_head":"\nThree injured in factory protests - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THREE factory workers were injured during violent clashes with the police in the Thetsane industrial area yesterday. 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