'Workers must unite to ensure maximum impact'

Former Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) chairman Mbonini could only sum up his concern with two words: " Very unfortunate."Giving a background on the transformation of the public sector workers' organisations to fully-fledged trade unions, he says, "It was the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) which fought very hard for the ratification of core International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions for the public sector workers to unionise in 1998."

He adds that it took government 10 years to align the labour laws of the country with the ILO conventions.