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.
