Friday, February 14, 2025

Unions zero in on climate change

When a SADC Council of Non Governmental Organisations Regional policy dialogue closed recently, it brought to the fore one fact. Labour unions can go beyond their remit to analyse issues you would not normally associate them with.

“There are two difficulties with being asked to give a trade union perspective on anything,” said Jeff Rudin, a South African unionist. “The first difficulty is the danger of thinking that there is a single trade union position. The second is the danger of limiting the answer to pay and conditions, the narrow ‘bread and butter’ issues usually assigned to trade unions.”

You would, indeed, be forgiven for thinking Rudin’s focus was the usual concern of trade and labour unions ÔÇô a concern shaped by the plight of workers. His next words, however, cast the spotlight on what he was talking about: “Shaping the way trade unions respond to climate change is the way in which they understand the issue…”

Rudin’s sentiments were an appropriate curtain raiser to concerns raised in subsequent interviews on the vexing issue of climate change by three local trade union leaders, Johnson Motshwarakgole, Elsina Botsalano, Victor Moupo and Mosala Phokontsi. Interestingly, the three showed they had different interpretations and approaches to tackling the phenomenon. Nevertheless, the trio from the National Amalgamated Local and Central Government, Parastatal Manual Workers Union sounded determined to map a way of dealing with it.

“More than 60 percent of Batswana have no information on climate change, how to adapt to it or mitigate it,” said Moupo, the union’s legal adviser. “This is because our government is cagey about information on climate change, making it difficult to know where to start.”

Botsalano picked up on the argument about what they perceive as government’s non-committal approach. “They never invite us whenever they go to international conferences on climate change. Yet whenever we get sponsorship from donors to travel to such gatherings they pretend to be with us whenever they see us there. They did that even during last year’s Conference of Parties in Durban, South Africa. After that they say they will meet us when we get home. We never hear of what action was taken, when, and we are never invited for any discussions at their offices.”

Botsalano had represented the trade union several times in the past at such conferences. She further bemoaned the fact that it is consequently the unions and their members who are going to be fatally affected should things worsen due to the trend.

┬áOther unions like the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and its affiliates in South Africa have come up with plans that will help with employment creation as well as help reduce emission of Green House Gases that saturate the atmosphere. Do local unions have such plans? “We have to first sensitize our masses on the danger posed by this phenomenon. We plan to have a national committee on climate change,” said Motshwarakgole, who is Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions (BOFEPUSU) labour secretary general. “In other countries it is the governments that lead in providing alternatives where recession forces the option of downsizing the workforce. It is the government that has means such as resources, but this is not the case with our government.”

He added that at the time when HIV/AIDS was reported to be in existence, the government relaxed and worked at a snail’s pace, shelving all information that could be of crucial use, only to start acting in haste in the eleventh hour. It was when things had worsened that it invited all stakeholders to participate in the fight against the disease. Motshwarakgole asserts the government is using exactly the same approach on the issue of climate change.

But how are trade unions mobilizing for the swift approach to climate change?

“With the mindset in government, if you ask for better working conditions, payments, land use, complain of an unequal share of resources and then add the issue of the slow approach to climate change, you run the risk of being labelled the evil one,” offered the eloquent Motshwarakgole. “Given that all other stakeholders are saying nothing about it, you are bound to be considered abnormal and a threat to national peace and justice. But we are trying. We are sourcing funds to try and conduct workshops that will guide our membership to a better approach.”

Another union leader, Ketlhalefile Motshegwa, Secretary General of the Botswana Land Board Local Authorities and Health Workers union, said they take climate change as one subject that has been left behind. Like Motshwarakgole, he says stakeholders are reserved on an issue that affects all. He blames Botswana government’s policies as the cause.

“We held a press conference in May in which we made known our insights and thinking on the environment and climate change issues. We are taking this subject to our governing body in September 2012. The idea is to have a vibrant contribution on the issue at national policy level. We also want to network with other bodies on the check and balances on their governments,” said Motshegwa.

And the President of BOFEPUSU, Masego Mogwera, who at the time of the interview was on a trip in the Gantsi area, said they saw climate change as a challenge, if not a threat. They are advising their membership, especially those nearing retirement age not to misuse their packages.

“For those who are being laid off from their jobs like those from the water sector ÔÇô like those the Water Utilities Corporation can no longer keep ÔÇô we advise them to get counselling and seek assistance from financial advisors. We encourage them to seek advice on possible green business opportunities that will help curb emission of Green House Gases,” explained Mogwera.

They therefore plan a retreat in Francistown where they will revisit their Thabathula Declaration and draw a priority list. This declaration was a resolution reached in a meeting with South African trade unions.

One of the things they will prioritize in their list is to find an indigenous bank that will cater for the empowerment of union members to withstand the climate change problem. They are in the process of registering for such an initiative. They have engaged Bank ABC, Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic Banks to help them out.
If you thought a government representative will dismiss the unionists’ criticism wholesomely as trash get the surprise of your life. Begging this writer not to mention his name or quote what he said lest he lost his job, one government official admitted that the government is dragging its feet while urgency is needed in addressing the phenomenon.┬á

“Yes the pace at which climate change is being tackled is rightly likened to that of the first days of HIV/AIDS,” he said.

He said there is a lot of information on climate change within government circles. However, there is no proper structure for disseminating information. There is even no structure for utilizing any funds that could be availed for mitigation or adaptation to climate change.

The evidently disturbed officer said they did not send unionists to trips because they did not have a budget for such decisions, even they as government are sponsored by the United Nations. He emphasized the importance of different stakeholders pressurising the government to act swiftly lest things further worsen.

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