Poaching fuels union war

At the centre of the rivalry are old foes Botswana Teachers' Union (BTU) and Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU). BTU spokesman, Tidimalo Maeletso, said yesterday that after changing its mandate early this year, BOSETU has been discrediting BTU in order to attract a huge following. He said they never agreed to BOSETU's decision to recruit teachers across all levels of education because it is a duplication of BTU's core duty.

"BOSETU branched away from us years back to better represent secondary teachers because they felt they were under-represented and it doesn't make sense today for them to do what we do," he said adding that BOSETU is confusing teachers.  Maeletso accused BOSETU of prematurely making public important issues and taking credit for every milestone attained. He added that the union is very aggressive and does not take time to dialogue.