March on BFTU, march on!

Editor | Thursday December 16, 2010 00:00

This is welcome news indeed. For a long time workers in the non-unionised sector have suffered much injustice at the hands of employers who have no respect for the rights of the worker.  Unionisation of these workers will afford them the right to collective bargaining and the right to freedom of association. Unionisation is about democratisation of systems and processes. It is about employers honouring their obligations to the employee, appreciating that the employee's rights are not privileges and that they have to be protected. We have heard stories of farmhands who are abused by their bosses. Stories are told about security workers who go for months on end without pay or who are paid late into the next month. Suffering the same bane are domestics who often have to work long hours, seven days a week for ridiculously low pay.

Nurses are another group whose unionisation is long overdue.  Communicators, and public relations officers (PROs) have also suffered silently as they find themselves in the unenviable position of being spokespersons who must parrot their organisations' viewpoint no matter how ridiculous that position may be simply because he who pays the piper calls the tune. And so we have also heard about lodge workers who are subjected to slave conditions. Recent developments in the labour movement in Botswana, where the key employer has shown much indifference has shown beyond doubt that unionisation is an important vehicle for the protection and defence of workers' rights. Freedoms of association, expression and collective bargaining, as shown in the recent examination invigilation fiasco are rights to be exercised by all workers, including senior staff like school heads.

These rights are guaranteed under international Law. The unionisation of specialised groupings such as journalists, communications and public relations professionals should therefore not be regarded as a threat to corporate interests. Instead their bid to unionise should be seen as an effort towards the harmonisation of employee-employers relationships and increased productivity and service delivery.  We urge the BFTU to be resolute in this endeavour and use every available opportunity to persuade government to sign and recognise all International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions that are necessary for the protection of the worker in Botswana. We say this in the hope that one day we, as a nation, shall appreciate the role of such professions as the police, prison warders and other security operatives to unionise. It is in unionising that these workers will be able to collectively bargain for improved conditions of service. Not only that, they will also be able to appreciate more the value of democracy as ensconced in the trade union spirit.

                                                      Today's thought

'With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than any other association of men.'

                      -  Clarence Darrow quotes (American Lawyer, Speaker and Writer, 1857-1938)