In his article published in the Sunday Standard for the week 17 ÔÇô 23 September 2006, Blazer Ntshiamisang, remarks that in the third world, unions are industrial relations backup and wage increase campaigners.
He ends by saying, this is abuse of unionism. True and it would be naïve to dispute this perception rather than to explore the reasons for unions staying this low in the last 40 years. In fact, several other people have opinionated on the same subject in Mmegi of 29 September 2006 and some of their views will become apparent along the way.
Several factors provide a plausible basis for the stagnation of trade Unions in Botswana. The salary and Wage paradigm characterise the struggle because both government, as a government and employer together with other employers especially giant employers have conspired to pay low wages for the purpose of retaining workers, which they do. Wage negotiations which result in salary adjustments are deliberately made to last a long time across companies and the trend is such that they occasionally turn into antagonistic battles, save for those that end smoothly, take a significant chunk of the year’s productive months. It is common that during such negotiations other equally deserving activities are suspended until a wage agreement is reached when little time is left for meaningful engagement to the disadvantage of the workers. The protracted nature of the wage talks depends on the pangs of hunger as a weapon to keep employees focused on Maslow’s survival concerns, whilst at the same time employers drive their higher programs and accumulate more for the share holders’ wealth. Again, employers have an upper hand regarding when consultation and or negotiations may take place and which issues to be discussed in the employer’s best interest at any particular point in time often pushing the union team on the reactive side to toe the line.
Divide and rule or in Sun Tzu’s words “cause division among them”, has fragmented the workforce in Botswana and it is based on the realization by employers that workers need money badly hence the plot to keep them on low wages to achieve their individualism and total dependency. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr. Bruce Palai is quoted in the same Mmegi as alleging that since the Incomes Policy of 1990 there has been improvement in the employer/employee bargaining relationship due to changes in the law. Good point, however, this situation is deteriorating and may get to anarchy arising from lack of effective enforcement not absence of laws. Employers exploit the weakness and failure by the Department of Labour to monitor deviations and its inability to take corrective measures to ensure compliance. It is this powerlessness which has opened a window for employers to undermine the bargaining relationship. In fact, some have now resorted to Union bashing and use their financial muscle to place stooges in union leadership positions through underhand means. Evidence is in several unfair dismissals cases of union activists and leaders for minor offences and without regard to statutory provisions just to induce panic and disintegration among the union members. Even more, some employers have recently been caught offering huge sums of money to unions’ dissidents with impunity as a strategy to destabilise trade unions to pave way for the formation of the emerging Yellow unions. It is apparent that, devious managements – save for those that conduct their business with integrity – prefer yellow unions because they are cunningly friendly and harmless as they do not make demands on behalf of the members they purport to represent. They are also a source of the so-called internal conflicts in unions as they drive management agenda. Sadly, government on the other hand pretends to see no evil.
Trade Unions in Botswana are bogged down with bureaucracy related to protracted dispute settlement mechanism. As an example, a dismissal case drags through convoluted internal disciplinary procedures at industry level before reaching mediation and arbitration by the Commissioner of Labour. Within the industry, disputes take on average four (4) months from date of inception and may even take more time as there is no requirement on employers to resolve grievances expeditiously. If not settled, matters are then referred to the Industrial Court which has a turn around waiting time of not less than twenty (20) months. In essence, an employee who is dismissed in 2006 will have his case heard by the Labour Court in last part 2008 at the current rate. It is this lengthy period which motivates employers to throw more and more employees into the street together with the fact that they are not required to pay employees whose cases are waiting final settlement.
By comparison, the South African model has a turn around waiting time averaging three to six months, which is a fairly reasonable waiting period. Currently, industrial relations in Botswana is managed by the Courts, therefore, unions spend a lot of their productive time chasing mainly long queues of outstanding hearings as more trigger happy managers get rewarded for laying off workers coupled with the lack of consequence for making incompetent decisions on the part of management. Add to these huge costs of procuring an attorney ÔÇô though not compulsory ÔÇô is a serious drain on the Union’s financial resources as unions have to contend with employers who appear by Attorneys.
A case has been made for capacity building on the part of union leadership and its members. It is true that in training and development lies the future of the Trade Union movement. However, it is trite to understand that Unions are limited on financial resources and do not have skilled full time Trainers who can actually build competency on a regular and sustainable basis. In countries where governments and employers are not anti-union, there are full time union officials paid by employers as opposed to the antagonistic stance prevalent on our soil. For example, De Beers pays full time union officials in South Africa to do union business but is unable to encourage its Siamese sister, Debswana and a host of other employers, to do same in Botswana simply because our government pays lip-service to freedom of association for the labour movement.
Blazer Ntshiamisang made what seems to be scathing remarks, such as “Trade unionism demands more than putting on yellow shirts for marches. It is a trillion times more than appearing on television for power hungry moves……” Admittedly, his remarks may be true in isolated cases. Nevertheless, the remarks represent what liberated trade unions do in the progressive world they use similar methods to campaign for power, to picket, to show solidarity, to show dissatisfaction and to pressurize derisive regimes. The problem is the half hearted recognition of trade unions by government, which explains why generally Unions are perceived to be disruptive and tolerated only for window dressing ILO conventions.
Blazer, criticized the lack of advocacy for occupational health and safety by unions for their members. To the contrary, unions are proactive but only disregarded by employers and government in the cause of their normal duties. For instance, when Debswana wanted to introduce scannex (x-ray) body search machines in the mines, Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) objected and insisted that the introduction must be preceded by relevant law and research on impact of the radiation on the health of the workers against the effects of HIV/AIDS. The amazing thing is that both Debswana and the Department of mines became ambivalent and sidelined the union from active involvement in the project. All promises related to further joint research and cooperation melted away. On the other hand there are countless other accident/incident inquiries where Union’s safety stewards have been sidelined in the operations and not given permission to take part especially when there is presumably something to hide. At BCL Mine, an artisan who is a union member lost his arm on duty and the incident is handled outside the Union even when it is alleged the Department of Mines is involved. At present, unions are expected to go to court every day to seek compliance by employers with existing legislations.
Trade Unionists who attempt to assert themselves are victimised and sacked under some other pretext. Company resources are used to bar them from freely speaking for their members by regimes which fear the rising consciousness level of the workers. It is the level of brutality unleashed on any person associated with trade union activism which has reduced some union leaders into charlatans and alienated them from their members. Unfortunately, this submissiveness is likely to get worse with the increasing surveillance by state special intelligence units and other policing agents over Union activities to induce political correctness. Another is the Botswana television, which is highly censored on Union matters and chooses to broadcast mainly those clippings which serve to down play the worth of Unions and promotes employers’ repression measures. It seems the common adage “good industrial relations”, describes business which thrives when employees are subjugated and less able to demand a decent share of their toil. If not, its time to walk the talk.
Blazer Ntshiamisang concludes by suggesting that workshops should be “run to help Union members with what the union stands for” and I add for employers as well. Yes, such initiative would enhance the success of both companies and unions, and it is a good reason funding by employers is necessary. However, I observe that an enlightened workforce which is not taken seriously may be even more frustrated. Therefore, the bigger issue is the imperative to resuscitate the moribund Tripartite – government/employer/trade union ÔÇô forum for constructive debate on issues of mutual interest. To borrow President Mogae’s words, government and employers are ‘Siamese twins’ in the race for privatization and none of them is listening to the forlorn cry of the workers and the unemployed for crumbs. In essence, the impending retrenchments, severance packages and resultant casualisation of labour will be decided only by the Siamese twins in their best interest without the workers. Most importantly, is to separate shop floor or industry level issues which can be done institutionalizing the tripartite arrangement by law with clear mandate to give firmness to the joint national approach rather than rope in Trade Unions, in particular, the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions only when it is ‘convenient’ to do so.
All that is needed is a democratic dispensation which respects the right of workers as a critical factor in development, values divergent thinking and is less hostile.
*Jack Salumba Tlhagale is Botswana Mine Workers Union General Secretary
