"It's going to be a challenge to be a trade union as we have to work hard in recruiting more members. The strength of our union is going to be determined by the strength of our membership," he said. He said unionising would give them more bargaining power to negotiate better salaries for members. "It is going to be better than before because as an association, we used to be involved in negotiations with our employers but they were not binding," he said. He lamented that the Botswana Federation of Trade Union (BFTU) elections this weekend have come before BULGASA became a trade union. "One would wish for us to have been involved in these elections and maybe vie for an additional members' position. But when we finally become a union, we will be affiliated with BFTU to strengthen them because as unions, we all fight for a common," he asserted.
Ishmael said that the impending unionisation means BULGASA will have to speed up its plans to train shop stewards and paralegal staff. He revealed that they would train the stewards in neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa as they have already established links in the two countries. "These have to be done as soon as possible so that things are in place when we become a union because we want to be represented by people who know the laws that govern unions. We will bring Zimbabwean experts to Botswana to train our paralegals because it is cheaper," Ishmael said.
