BOTSWANA: Unions to protest over alleged rights abuses

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 20 May 2005 (IRIN) - The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) and the Public Service Workers Association (PWSA) are to embark on a series of demonstrations this weekend to press the government for labour legislation to protect workers from general victimisation, unfair dismissals and discrimination on the grounds of their HIV/AIDS status.

According to the unions, the demonstrations will begin on Saturday and end on 4 June, when a petition will be handed over to President Festus Mogae.

The BFTU is the umbrella organisation for all private-sector workers' unions, while the PSWA represents government employees.

BFTU secretary-general Henry Tebogo Makhale told IRIN the country's existing industrial laws did not safeguard workers from abuse, and the draft national policy on HIV/AIDS, proposed as a guide for workplace mitigation programmes, lacked the necessary legal statutes to make it enforceable.

"Going on strike, whether one works for government or the private sector, means victimisation or dismissal. The Botswana worker has nowhere to seek for help - many employers are hostile, abusive and insensitive," said Makhale.

"Through the petition, we want to make President Mogae aware of the need to reform national labour laws, in line with the standards of the International Labour Organisation. They should be considerate of the needs of the workers and provide for an independent, government-supported labour dispute resolution tribunal," Makhale added.

Last year over 400 workers were summarily dismissed by diamond mining giant De Beers for taking part in a strike. The Botswana government and De Beers each hold a substantial stake in Debswana diamond mines.

During the past two years the government has also deducted money from the salaries of civil servants who participated in industrial action.

"The purpose is to raise our joint concern about the summary dismissal and ill-treatment of employees; it will also raise the issue of employer-employee relations, which are too acrimonious across the country at present," Makhale said.

"In many private companies there is open hostility between the two parties: deadly mistrust, vindictiveness and open victimisation of workers and union leaders are now the order of the day," he charged.

"Government is ill-treating its own employees, and the private sector is copying it all, because there are no functional labour laws to protect the workers in this country," he commented.

The unions argue that the Trade Disputes Act is woefully inadequate and exposes workers to abuse.

"Over 400 workers and unions leaders were dismissed for taking part in strike action at Debswana diamond mines last year. The government has silently taken away the rights of civil servants to demonstrate, by effecting crippling deductions on strikers' salaries and summarily dismissing others," Makhale alleged.

"State control over the mediation and abirtration processes [under] the Trade Disputes Act has sown deep mistrust - so much that workers rarely expect a fair hearing," he added.

The unions have also pointed to a lack of political will regarding the enactment of a national HIV/AIDS mitigation policy.

"We knew more than 20 years ago that HIV/AIDS was destroying the workforce and the economy. The fact that we have only now come up with a draft policy - which does not even propose punishment for employers who violate their workers' rights on the basis of HIV/AIDS - shows the government is not yet serious, and would spend more time studying such proposals instead of acting," Makhale said.

"HIV/AIDS-positive workers are still being heavily discriminated against, and prospective employees, notably apprentices in the mining sector, are still forced to undergo compulsory HIV/AIDS testing. Those who test positive are dropped and they have no legal options to follow. The draft proposal highlights many of the problems but offers no solutions," he alleged.

Partson Mazonde, a senior official in the Ministry of Health, defended the new draft as "a good guide that can be improved upon". He said the lack of legal options for workers who felt they had been abused was not an issue, as the draft policy, once adopted, would make use of existing labour laws.

But Makhale said government should not rush to adopt the new policy until the present defective labour laws had been reviewed, and pointed out that the process of taking an industrial dispute for mediation or abitration was long, complicated and too costly for any worker to follow.

"The labour laws should be redrafted, and take into account the freedom and wellbeing of the Botswana worker. Currently they serve only capitalist and employer interests, with the workers being treated as garbage. Testing HIV positive in Botswana is still one of the quickest ways to earn a dismissal, because the same employers do not want to take the additional responsibility of providing healthcare to their productive workers," Makhale claimed.

Jeff Ramsay, President Mogae's spokesman, countered that the government possessed the necessary political will to see that workers' rights were protected, and said the government welcomed any input towards the harmonisation of labour laws, including views from the unions.

Labour unrest has been simmering since the dismissal last year of over 400 members of the Botswana Mine Workers Union after they took part in a two-week strike at the country's major diamond mines.

[ENDS]

?Theme(s)	Democracy-Economy-Human Rights