Trade unions and president to discuss cooling labour unrest

Botswana's largest trade union federation is to meet with President Festus Mogae on Friday in a bid to tackle ongoing labour unrest. The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) is expected to press the government for a review of the country's labour laws, which leave employees vulnerable to abuse by their bosses, the unions claim. The federation has threatened to stage a nationwide strike in the first week of August in response to what they regard as unfair labour practices. One the key demands is the immediate reinstatement of 461 of its members dismissed last year by Debswana diamond mines for taking part in a general strike. In May workers marched to the office of the president and implored Mogae to personally intervene, but to no avail. "The office of the president has not responded to the 4 May petition. In the interest of progress, we now seek to meet the president in the hope that he will intervene and save the workers at this troubled time in the history of our labour relations. We still believe the 461 workers were unfairly dismissed, and that such a state of affairs would set a wrong precedent for other employers to follow if it is left like this," BFTU's secretary-general, Tebogo Makhale, told IRIN. The government has so far refused to be drawn into the wrangle between the unions and Debswana mines, on the basis that the strike was declared illegal; it has also argued that as an employer, Debswana reserves the right to deal with internal problems according to its own code of conduct. The government has announced that it was working on a new labour bill, but workers said the proposals fell far short of setting guidelines for harmonious relations between workers and their employers. Makhale noted that workers were equally keen to see a revised composition of the labour tribunal. They were generally suspicious of the bench, which was composed of officials from the ministry of labour. "The tribunal has no history other than declaring all strike actions illegal. Getting one case to be heard is also a slow and complicated process. We also believe there is a conflict of interest in the Debswana workers' case - the government is a majority shareholder at the Debswana mines and workers cannot see how the tribunal could have judged against its own master. The tribunal should be moved away from government and be staffed by independent labour experts, as opposed to civil servants," said Makhale. Labour unrest has been simmering since the mineworkers' strike last year for better pay and working conditions. Debswana has flatly refused to reinstate the employees fired for allegedly inciting others to strike and committing acts of general sabotage. Efforts to get a comment from the Office of the President were unsuccessful.