Labour and state of the nation - a prelude

EDWARD BOIKI TSWAIPE* | Friday November 5, 2010 00:00

This article looks ahead at what workers and trade unions could expect from the address and puts across priority areas for labour and employment.

Economic Recovery, Jobs and Social SecurityWe expect the address to give a brief global economic outlook to contextualise our economy's performance, especially minerals which are most vulnerable to global demand.

Typically the speech would avoid closures and redundancies resulting from the continuing impact of the global crisis on the real economy, but would highlight growth and resilience.

Mention of employment growth would be quantitative and not acknowledge the lag in employment recovery which is known not to correlate with output growth post crisis. We want to highlight that while there is some upturn in GDP, employment is still falling.

It would not come as a surprise if Ipelegeng jobs are quoted again as part of government employment to give an impression of job creation and sustained rural livelihoods.

The ministries of finance and local government count Ipelegeng piece-jobs cumulatively, giving quarterly figures of up to 70,000 and 230,000 annually. The short employment tenure and the below-minimum-wage pay are not revealed.

BFTU advises that Ipelegeng should not be part of employment data and should be categorised as a social security programme, whose numbers merely reflect recipients while 'work' is a distribution mechanism, disbursed as transfers.

Although employment data remains unreliable, owing to infrequent and narrow scope of surveys, Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) wants to underline continuing job losses across the economy.

While Botswana is party to the ILO's Global Jobs Pact of June 2009 to mainstream investment, employment and social protection into recovery policy, and adopted a Decent Work Country Programme the same year, no social dialogue took place with respect to protection of jobs during the crisis and on counter-cyclical economic policy.

Key policy decisions are made without the input of social partners, contrary to Tripartite Consultation Convention C144, which Botswana ratified in June 1997.

BFTU calls for the establishment of an effective Tripartite Social Dialogue structure to discuss Economic and Social Policy. NEMIC and the Labour Advisory Board cannot play this role.

By spending P200 million annually on the Ipelegeng programme (which will accumulate to P1.4 billion over NDP 10) government is indirectly admitting the absence of a comprehensive social security programme.

Instead of engaging workers and employers, government, has come up with a state-funded programme that entrenches state dependency.

BFTU calls for an integrated, contributory national social security programme managed by an independent National Social Security Agency.

The state only needs to support the initial set-up of such agency at far less than the spending on Ipelegeng. We note that government continues to resist the consolidation of social security and wants to bear the burden alone even when sources of public revenues are clearly under pressure.

We also acknowledge that recent amendments to the Employment Act will go a long way in protecting employees' severance pay against unscrupulous employers, but it is not a panacea for vulnerability of employment against discretionary dismissals that workers face daily. This is because of two main reasons: low pay due to weak collective bargaining coverage and a dysfunctional dispute resolution system.

BFTU observes that government has decided to freeze all new recruitment into the public service following the mismanagement of the implementation of the new Public Service Act.  On the other hand training institutions release graduates into the labour market, of which government employment has been an important option. BFTU wants this State of the Nation Address to come out clear about government's intention regarding these graduates and the future of the Graduate Internship programme.

Similarly we are aware that the Brettonwoods institutions (World Bank & IMF) have repeatedly advised government to start trimming the public service to reduce recurrent spending on wages.

This is part of a neo-liberal trend, which includes water privatisation, that continues to redefine the role of the state in Botswana. His Excellency should use the opportunity of the State of the Nation Address to declare the position of government with respect to downsizing in the public service.

Labour RelationsBFTU notes the growing incidents of industrial conflict affecting Chinese-owned firms in Botswana. We have always decried the poor capacity of the Labour Inspection Unit and the neglect and disinterest it suffers.

We need not remind government that a good labour relations environment is essential for investment and job creation, the very drivers of poverty reduction and diversification strategies. Good Labour Relations requires strong labour inspection and active regulation.

In the public sector, BFTU notes the progress made after the commencement of the Public Service Act (PSA) since May 2010. However there are still serious problems associated with the implementation of PSA as will be revealed in the ongoing tours by the Director of Public Service Management (DPSM), especially poor consultation of employees before major decisions were made.

Overall two issues emerge: the hurriedness with which the PSA was brought to Parliament in December 2008 by the then Minister of Public Administration, Rre Daniel Kwelagobe and the doubtful preparedness of DPSM to manage the process. The government labour relations environment is currently quite chaotic and confused.Already a dispute is brewing regarding the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC), because of DPSM's failure.

It is regrettable that DPSM and the current Minister of Public Administration have allowed political interference and opportunism to contaminate and drive public service labour relations, including the marginalisation of BFTU affiliates. BFTU observes that DPSM conceals the possible crisis that a dispute over the PSBC establishment would cause for public sector labour relations.

BFTU wants government to note that the behaviour of the state in this area will attract international attention and will definitely tarnish the country's international reputation, especially in the ILO system. We are worried that the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has failed to advise government of its obligations in this respect.

Poverty Eradication, Economic Diversification and Citizen Empowerment PolicyIt is commendable that poverty issues are getting the attention at the highest level. We single out the Office of the President (OP) which has boldly identified poverty as a priority focus for government. We expect the State of the Nation Address to highlight the Review of the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction, the Task Force on Rural Livelihoods, the Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy, LIMID, ISPAAD and the recent Pitso ya nyeletso lehuma launch of these flagship policies.

Our main concerns are in the conceptualisation of poverty and consultation and partnerships around poverty reduction.

We are worried that government wants to fight poverty using a top-down approach, yet government talks of involving all stakeholders. We have recently heard about a one-day-a-month initiative and the launch of a Community Service day involving workers as part of the new anti-poverty strategies.

Government is talking about poverty, but are they prepared to listen to others? Why is government ignoring the efforts of civil society organisations, which have come up with a SADC/MDGs aligned Poverty Observatory? Why does government mention employment as a route out of poverty but avoids dialogue with workers'

representatives? Even when discussing pension reform government wants to listen more to fund managers than to the workers who contribute and receive pension benefits. We fear that all the good efforts of the OP may come to nothing if there is no genuine broad-based dialogue - morero, therisanyo.

Government's move from poverty alleviation to eradication is a step forward.

However, without full employment as a policy goal and by ignoring the quality of jobs and labour market regulation, eradicating poverty will always be a goal to be pursued. Over the years government has benefitted from the abundance of poverty research, especially its multi-dimensional nature.

However conceptualisation remains limited to extreme poverty when designing anti-poverty strategies. There is no mention of the working poor.

There is also reluctance to acknowledge that Botswana's poverty is closely related to the problem of income and wealth distribution, which starts at the workplace.

BFTU also notes new initiatives on Economic Diversification Drive and Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy, alongside poverty eradication. Similarly we would encourage a developmental approach to these many policy initiatives.

We now have enough poverty-related initiatives. Let us examine their design, appropriateness and implementation strategies. The state should reduce talking to itself and embrace effective dialogue even in monitoring and evaluation of such programmes.

Education and Human Resource DevelopmentBFTU does not expect government to highlight, let alone acknowledge the current impasse on the national school examinations. Although we differ with their approach, however it must be noted that teachers' unions have succeeded in projecting the centrality of professional teachers in the examination process, while the Ministry of Education and the Examinations Council would continue to try to prove that they could run exams, however tainted, without the teachers' unions. BFTU maintains that this ego-driven impasse cannot be resolved without opening up dialogue on both sides.

It may well be repeated in next year's examinations, which punishes innocent children, especially from poor families who are dependent on a functional public education system, in which exams are vital.

BFTU notes that the HRD strategy is an important NDP 10 development pillar. We hope government will use the State of the Nation Address to make its stand clear about the future of the Science and Technology University (BIUST) project, which has come at a very high cost to taxpayers although the nation has nothing to show for it.

We expect the address to mention the launch of the Public Service College and the completion of Serowe and Molepolole Health Institutions but would be silent on most training institutions including the change in strategy away from state funding of private tertiary education after the departure of Borre Mogae le Nkate, and the stagnation in the takeover of the Brigades by government. On the other hand the State of the Nation Address could possibly mention the Science and Technology Park as part of the Innovation hub's diversification strategy.

Constitutional Development BFTU notes that Botswana's democratic credentials are being eroded by an archaic constitution while the Executive uses patronage to resist constitutional reform. For the sake of future generations we urge the dominant parties in Parliament to take a leaf from the Kenyan Constitutional reform process, which has set a high standard for Africa.

As labour there are a number of clauses we would like to put forward in such process. We have for instance suggested the establishment of a Constitutional Court and strengthening of the Bill of Rights. There is also a glaring need for an Industrial Court of Appeal.

Zebras, Kaone, Amantle and EmmaLastly, as the nation takes stock of itself through this address, we also want to congratulate the national football team as we move towards a historic AFCON qualifier.

BFTU pays tribute to Batswana who continue to shine internationally, most notably the recent accomplishments of Amantle Montsho and Emma Wareus.

Amazingly, this is in spite of the fact that such individuals and groups do not always get the full support of institutions that are meant to support them and the absence of a deliberate structured approach to repeat such achievements.  But bravo to these stars.

BFTU joins the exploited herders of cattle, maids who work 24/7, sellers of airtime and sweets, the harvesters of phane and thatching grass, hewers of wood and drawers of water and many other workers and patriots who are proud of these shining stars of our nation.

*Edward Boiki Tswaipe is the Secretary for Publicity and International Relations for the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU)