How a nationwide strike would devastate Botswana

| Monday September 27, 2010 00:00

Workers will always strike when they feel that their interests are not met or are being ignored by the employer.  As far back as March 14, 1152 B.C., workers went on strike. 

A case in point is the strike of ancient Egypt's Artisans of the Royal Necropolis at Deir el-Medina. This was during the reign of Ramesses III and the strike would become the first documented industrial action in the history of mankind. The workers 'downed tools' after they had gone 20 days without any rations. They all received their due salaries following protests in the streets and at temples.

Because of the potential harmful implications of strikes, employers often have to find ways of averting them, such as conceding to the workers' demands or at least reaching some agreement with their representatives.

Last week, Batswana across the country waited with bated breath as the biggest union federation, BOFEPUSO, announced that its members would go on strike on September 20, 2010 over the government's failure to make a commitment regarding when it would pay salary arrears dating back to May 1, 2010.

Government had already conceded that it owed the workers eight days in salary arrears but would not commit to a date of payment. As the clock on the National Assembly tower chimed, it became clear to everyone at Government Enclave that everything was now in the hands of time. It remained so until BDP chairman Daniel Kwelagobe, came into the picture.

Kwelagobe convinced the unions not to strike. Union leaders went back to their members and told them that the government would pay the arrears afterall! The payments would be made at the end of October because salaries for the month of September had already been processed, the announcement said, putting an end to the 'mother of all strikes' and its untold consequences before it could even begin. The bill will amount to a mammoth P2 billion.

However, the respite could be short-lived. As environmentalists know, the mild tremors that precede an earthquake alert wildlife - especially birds - of the impending disaster. The birds often take off, leaving an eerie quiet in their wake; a lull often missed by humans for the warning it is. As it was this week, the government appeared so unprepared for a strike that it could have devastated the country had it happened. But how would the various services around the country have fared?

HealthA strike by health workers would wreak havoc in virtually every village, town and city. It would be felt immediately as patients' conditions deteriorated. Critical life-saving operations would fail as nurses would not be there to assist some non-unionised staff, doctors more likely. Around the country, patients would die in their hospital beds.

Wards would become plagued with dangerous micro-organisms as ancillary staff would refuse to clean. Wounds would fester and pregnant women would give birth without the benefit of professional widwifery.

Dirty, soiled linen would remain on beds, encouraging the multiplication of dangerous microbes. No one would cook for the patients. The cry of orphaned babies or those with mothers tool ill to tend to them would pierce the air. The mayhem in mental hospitals would simply boggle the mind. Emergency services and police would attend only to A&E patients, many of whom would die as there would be no one to help them. No one would pick up the phone at 997 and no one to drive the ambulances. People with scorpion stings, snake bites, fractured limbs, measles, internal bleeding, post-natal complications, knife stabbing wounds, poison ingestion, gas inhalation, raptured appendixes, cancer patients, amputations, eye infections would all suffer immeasurably or die.

Town councilsWith some of their services overlapping with or complementing those of the Ministry of Health, councils would also be devastated, with the public shouldering the brunt of the consequences. The siren of the fire engine would remain quiet. No one would come to the assistance of a shop-owner or a house-owner whose property is burning.

Road accident victims would remain helpless, in some cases burning in vehicles. Bursting sewage pipes would flow onto roads and homes. Mourners would be stuck with the corpses of their loved ones as there would be no one to unlock the gate to the graveyard or because the graves had not been dug. There would be no one to collect the rubbish, not even for diplomatic corps. The smell of rotting rubbish would permeate the atmosphere from all corners. There would be no water as Water Affairs pump-men would have downed their spanners or ignore the engine running out of fuel.

Road Transport and Telecommunications Government fuel points at the Central Transport Organisation would be inoperable. Government vehicles, including those for the police and the prisons department, would be left on the side of roads. Some of the vehicles would have been transporting convicts. Truckers would form lines spanning several kilometers, blocking roads as they wait patiently at weighbridges. Trade would come to a standstill. Shops would not replenish supplies as their suppliers would not have any owing to the fact the truck carrying the goods would still be stuck at the weighbridge.

The nation would starve. Eventually, businesses would shut down. Airports would fill up with boxes of goods as customs staff would not be available to release the merchandise. Freight trains in and out of the country would stand still.

Labour and Home AffairsVisitors would be stuck at our borders, unable to enter or exit. Many bringing supplies into the country would go back as there would be no one to allow them through. The country would lose millions in uncollected revenue from visitors and tourists. At Immigration counters, there would be no one to assist customers. People due for travel during the week would lose thousands of Pula, marooned for lack of passports. Many whose loved ones have died would not be able to bury them as insurance proceeds would not be released without death certificates. Their dead, who they would have picked from a hospital where the doctors and nurses were on strike, would not have been registered. Marriages would not be solemnized because officers responsible would not be at work.

Customers having travelled from far, some from outside the country, where they may be schooling or working would find Omang offices empty. At the labour office, job seekers would have gone home, knowing it would be pointless to wait as no officer would come to their assistance. Employers wishing to get connected with a potential employee would be frustrated because no one would answer the phone.

And so would many other services suffer, until the workers got their demands or chose to go back to work.