The position entitles holders to a few pecks of office that are not necessairly percuniary.

Workers in private and State-owned companies will on March 1, 2016, elect their representatives for a two-year tenure. As the date for the polls approaches, intending candidates are already creating alliances and lobbying for support from fellow workers.

Workers’ representatives, it should be recalled, serve as liaison between management and the rest of the staff. Why then all the interest in becoming workers’ representatives? The law offers them some privileges, among which is job security. They cannot be dismissed or transferred anyhow. This ensures that while their tenure lasts, workers’ representatives can, to a large extent, be assured of their jobs.

On the other hand, being guaranteed of remaining in the same duty post for at least two years enables workers’ representatives to maintain some level of stability in their families. The fear of abrupt transfer and having to move the family and look for new schools for the children is therefore no longer the concern of serving staff representatives.

Serving as go-between between management and workers affords staff representatives some measure of influence, even though the law does not provide for any pecuniary gains. The offer of any such dividends – one-off perhaps – is at the discretion of individual managers or employers of labour. Take it or not, workers’ representatives, with time, become spokes people for their colleagues. This also means empowering them to wield some influence in the work place.

Another advantage of being a workers’ representative is that they might be co-opted onto company boards or committees. Whether as full-fledged or ex-officio members, their mere presence on such committees or boards might entitle them to some sitting allowances.