Govt, unions must reach compromise agreement

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday May 20, 2011 00:00

Although initially the strike was earmarked to last 10 days, it has developed into an indefinite walkout. In the meantime so much has happened with far-reaching economic ramifications. The government has been forced to close schools, citing the safety of students.  Sources reveal that some health facilities have been closed due to lack of sufficient manpower.   The government has also retaliated by firing all the essential service workers who have joined on strike.

Throughout the strike, the government has been applying all types of intimidating tactics against the striking workers.  In a bid to find a solution to the impasse, union leaders from the Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions (BOFEPUSU) and the employers, the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), have held a number of negotiations.  But these negotiations broke down because they could not come to a mutual agreement.

The latest talks were held this week.  In the meantime, the strike continues unabated.  If you could take a walk to the Gaborone Senior Secondary School (GSSS) grounds during the strike's peak hours, you could find the spirit of no surrender prevailing.  Despite the threats, the striking workers are as determined as ever. 

At the GSSS grounds the workers while away time by singing and chanting the labour movement slogans.  At times, especially on Tuesdays, the strikers are addressed by different orators. 

On 'a good day', you will find the workers as militant as ever depending on who is addressing them.  You could even mistake the gathering for a political freedom square rally.  Some of the statements that are made at the rally are highly inflammatory.  One of the speakers once urged the striking male workers to rise up against the government or otherwise they should hang themselves on the big morula tree under which they have been converging. 

What is comforting to the workers is that they are not alone in their battle.  They have been receiving messages of solidarity from several quarters.  'Forward with the workers, forward! Down with the oppressors, down,' goes some of the chants.  'A injury to one is an injury to all,' the speakers would roar back in unison.   One of the fiery speakers at the workers' rally is the president of the University of Botswana (UB) Student Representative Council (SRC) Khumoekae Richard.  Richard always moves the crowd when he is addressing them.   He said it was unfortunate that the UB students have gone on vacation.  Richard said if the students had been on campus, they would have staged a march on behalf of the workers. 

There have been different opinions about the strike, which has become the biggest ever by civil service employees. Members of the general public also seem to be rallying behind the striking government workers. 

Without pointing fingers, an insurance agent, Saone Moepeng, said government employees deserve a salary increment. 'I support the workers.  They should be given at least a 10 percent salary increase,' said Moepeng. 

She feels that the strike is more costly to the nation. 'We are going to lose more because of the strike.  I think this is too much.  The government should pay the workers so that they return to work.  The workers should continue with the strike if they are not paid,' she said.  She said although the government is claiming that there is no money government expenditure has been increasing.   Moepeng expressed concern about the closure of schools.  She said education is going to suffer.  'This is what worries me, the education of our children,' she said.  And banker Tshambani Gwakuba, said the government should meet the workers half way.  He called on the two parties to compromise because bargaining is about give-and-take.  Gwakuba said the two parties should not keep on disagreeing. 

He said he understands where the union is coming from.  'They should at least settle for eight percent,' he said.

Gwakuba has personally been affected by the strike.  He experienced first hand the effects of the strike recently when he took a sick relative to Nyangabwe Hospital Referral (NRRH) in Francistown.  The patient could not get full treatment due to the strike.  Gwakuba said they ended up going to a private clinic, which was crippling financially.

But Gwakuba does not blame the workers because he feels they are fighting for a just cause.  'Even though the strike affected me the workers are entitled to what they are demanding,' he said. 

A vendor at the Gaborone Main Mall, Kealeboga Ramotlopi, also supports the workers' cause.  He said the government should pay its employees so that they can go back to work. 

Ramotlopi said the strike has caused so much damage already and 'this is why government should come to its senses'. He said children cannot go to school and you cannot get assistance at certain government health facilities.   Chidzanani Chitutu, an employee of a Gaborone furniture shop, said even though the government claims there is no money something needs to be done to restore order in government institutions. 

'I wish the workers could be paid what they are asking for because the cost of living is too high. The government should give them something and not necessarily 16 percent, at least 10 percent,' he suggested. Chitutu said they don't have any business in the furniture shops because most of their customers are government employees. 

He said the strike has hit the country really hard.  'Our education system has collapsed.  This is really a major drawback. I don't know where the children are going to start from when schools reopen,' he said.