Manual Workers Union misfires

| Tuesday July 7, 2009 00:00

By endorsing Kwelagobe, the union has inevitably thrust itself into the factional wars bedevelling the party. The union is letting itself become a vessel through which the factional interests of one group are to be settled.

While we acknowledge that the entire agenda of the labour movement is political in that rights by their very nature are political issues, we think the union has committed a monumental blunder. Before one can partake in the tussles within the party, one should have inherent interest in seeing one faction win over another. For unions, we take it that the paramount consideration for any involvement would be whether one group is more worker-friendly than the other. Unions get involved in matters concerning the welfare of workers, the rights of people especially the marginalised, and general issues of social and economic equity. In other words, it is only in defence of workers' rights or more widely human rights that a union could ever partake in any struggle. So in the context of the BDP, what agenda is the Manual Workers Union trying to protect by fighting on Kwelagobe's side? The union claims that it is fighting to protect the BDP constitution.

Really? Is it for the union to defend the constitution of a political party? If there is any constitution a union should defend, it must be the Constitution of Botswana.

Unions must show maturity and political acumen if they are to be taken seriously and the manual workers, sadly one of the major unions in the country, has completely blown it on this one. We suggest that the union reconsiders its stance or should at least advance better reasons for its sudden involvement in a matter that has absolutely nothing to do with its core mandate. Otherwise it would only serve to validate accusations that one of its leaders related to Kwelagobe is using the union to prop up his kinsman. In short, the Manual Workers Union has no business in BDP internal battles.

                                                 Today's thought

Where trade unions are most firmly organised, there are the rights of the people most respected.

                                                -Samuel Gompers