Relations between Government and Public sector trade unions have hit a new low, since the public sector strike more than two years ago.
Government has announced its withdrawal from the Bargaining Council and also recalled officers seconded to trade unions.
It was long in coming.
Bad relations have been simmering below the surface, reaching a boiling point recently when the Director of Public Service Management summoned trade union leaders to his office, effectively to warn them against dabbling in politics.
The standoff came against a backdrop of protracted legal disputes, that in our view could very easily have been resolved if both parties were willing to engage one another.
As it is, neither party has been prepared, much less willing to engage the other.
A route of confrontation and combat has regretfully been chosen over dialogue and mutual respect.
In the end it would appear like either party had given in to a scotched earth policy.
The end result is a demoralized public service, which often comes across like it is on an undeclared go-slow.
The public who are the consumers of the services rendered by the public service are natural losers.
It is tragic that neither party is willing to find let alone reach a common ground.
It is now almost five years since the government and the trade union movement have been at loggerheads.
It is natural for the unions and employer to disagree over long stretches, which is why we initially thought the dispute was normal.
But we have watched with dismay as the dispute has been allowed to deteriorate to levels that literally render any future reconciliation impossible.
Our concern is that the situation has dragged on for so long to a situation where the interests of the country are now at risk.
Competition for investors among countries has now reached cutthroat levels.
Investors actively avoid setting up in those countries where labour unrests are a recurrence.
It has always been one of Botswana’s strongest selling points that the country boasts an amicable labour relations atmosphere where trade unions share with government the overall strategic goal to create more employment.
We are worried that events of the last five years, where every dispute between government and unions is never resolved through dialogue, but only through resorting to the courts of law put paid to the long running tradition that Botswana has become famous for; peace, stability, tranquility and amicable labour relations.
We call on both unions and government to revise their strategy and once again commit to a spirit of co-existence.
Government’s latest behavior has been deeply deplorable.
By withdrawing from the Bargaining Council, government is effectively giving traction to widely held views that any participation was from the beginning half-hearted and only accepted grudgingly.
By recalling the union leaders, the government is inadvertently denying itself partners with whom to engage when things go wrong as they so clearly are happening in the public service.
We call on government to look at the bigger picture and find ways to reach a compromise with the trade union movement.
That is if they still believe in the efficacy of a vibrant public sector trade union movement
Unions have already noticed their intention to go to court.
Our view is that it will deliver a legalistic solution that will not address the underlying relationship issues, which in our opinion can only be resolved through an honest dialogue.
