On Monday, 29 June, about 2400 workers at Kromberg & Schubert in Botswana went on strike in protest over unpaid salaries and poor working conditions. Women are in the forefront of this strike, as they represent 67% of the company’s workforce. Management refused to address workers during their protest on Monday. The company’s management clearly takes advantage of the current coronavirus situation, trying to make workers’ pay for a crisis, which they have not caused. If they get through with this, other companies will follow quickly.

     Kromberg & Schubert is not a small struggling company but a global multinational company specializing in supply of electrical systems, cables and plastics. On their website they explain: “Due to the good order situation Kromberg & Schubert has more than 50,000 employees in over 40 locations worldwide”. This company treats workers badly even though it has been partially funded and assisted by government. Just three years back, Botswana Development Corporation invested P36 million for the expansion of the company. Further, they obtained wage subsidy from Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS). During the lockdown, employers have started to intimidate workers by trying to coerce them to accept salary cuts, unpaid leave and retrenchments. Kromberg workers have shown that we don’t have to accept this and that workers united have the power to fight back. In this sense Kromberg workers fight for all of us.

They deserve our unconditional solidarity.

Please sign this petition!