Masisi to address BOPEU congress
Staff Writer | Friday November 30, 2018 13:48
The BOPEU 2018 National General Congress (NGC) will be held under the theme “Restoring the culture of Trade Unionism and Re-affirming the role of Collective Bargaining in advancing workers’ rights in Botswana”.
To speak to this year’s NGC theme, BOPEU have invited Zingiswa Losi, the first female president of Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) who has also accepted the invitation.
BOPEU general secretary, Topius Marenga disclosed that the President will officially open the congress after accepting the invitation to come and appreciate the workers’ challenges first hand. “His invitation was a way to bridge the gap of trust that currently persists between labour and government. It is an appreciation that collectively we can deliver what the country yearns for,” Marenga said. Chobe Member of Parliament, Machana Shamukuni is scheduled to officially close the congress.
It is not the first time Masisi would be speaking at a BOPEU congress, having done so two years ago at their annual conference held in Francistown, where Justice Key Dingake was also the guest speaker.
Since he assumed the reigns as President in April this year, Masisi has made genuine consultation with the civic society one of his national agendas and has gone on to host the two local trade union federations; Botswana Federation of Public Parastatals and Private Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) and Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) leaderships.
One of Masisi’s priorities in his early days in the office has been to ensure that the Public Sector Bargaining Council (PSBC), which collapsed during the reign of former president Ian Khama due to heightened bickering with the trade unions, is up and running. The unions and government are still drafting the constitution of the new PSBC. Last week, government invited the trade unions to start salary negotiations for the next two financial years so that the consultation process is completed by Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, Marenga further told the media that the BOPEU congress will host more than 600 congregants that include 489 delegates, and invited guests.
Marenga said BOPEU’s annual conferences and the congress traditionally empower economies of the towns they are held in, as they spend over P3 million in hosting these events.
It is estimated that the Kasane congress would cost BOPEU P5 million. It will be held at one of the newest hotels to be opened in the township, the Travel Lodge, while delegates and guests will be accommodated in various lodges and hotels in the resort town. According to the general secretary, the 2018 national general congress provides an opportunity for the union to introspect and map a new way forward. “The National General Congress is more than a statutory mandated meeting, but serves as a key governance structure for BOPEU. It is the highest decision-making body of the Union mandated with mapping our future as a labour movement.”
Marenga said the congress comes at a time when the worker is in a precarious position.
“The neoliberal economic policies adopted by governments across the world and the growing influence of monopoly capital pose a threat to workers’ rights. Botswana has not been sparred of the brunt of these policies. Botswana’s constant presence in the list of 25 cases addressed at the ILC for the past two or three years is indicative of the level of degradation.”
Marenga was also concerned that the Mo Ibrahim Foundation IIAG report has also noted Botswana has, for the past five years, experienced an increasing decline in all its four indicators; key amongst them being: (i) Participation and Human Rights; and (ii) sustainable economic opportunity, while the Social Protection sub-indicator is reported to be showing warning signs of a decline.
“It is on this background that we chose our theme for this year. We also realise that those in the informal sector face worse challenges than those in the formal sector. We are also alive to the fact that Unionisation in the formal sector is under siege. Those employed in the formal sector face challenges in establishing Trade Unions and in the event, they are successful, their leaders are systematically weeded out,” explained Marenga.
The BOPEU chief further said this year’s theme calls for them to come up with strategies that are situation responsive to combat threats to the welfare of the worker.
“It calls for us to revisit our origins as the Trade Union movement and reinvigorate those principles that birthed us. It demands that we hold them dear and true. The theme recognises that our strong belief in the power of collective bargaining and its ability to reshape our future as workers for better,” he said in part.
He further observed that the ever-rising call for austerity measures advocated for by neoliberal international organisations like the International Monetary Fund has seen the rise of anti-worker laws enacted.
“Compounded with the lust of Foreign Direct Investment, governments have caved to the demands of monopoly capital. The result being bankrupt government passing the tax burden to the working class to cover tax cuts to big corporations or the enactment of labour unfriendly laws,” Marenga extrapolated.
BOPEU said they see collective bargaining as their most potent tool to repel these overtures and to hold government accountable. “It is our most potent tool to ensure that our government delivers to us (workers) what’s due to us and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.”