Gov’t bypasses union consultations - UDC

The collapse of the Public Service Bargaining Council has led to unilateral decisions by government

Umbrella for Democratic Change ( UDC) says since the collapse of the Public Service Bargaining Council ( PSBC) in 2015, the government has made empty promises to resuscitate it.

This, according to the party, is the greatest injustice to the workforce as the government now makes arbitrary decisions and pronouncements on workers’ welfare without the involvement of workers and Trade Unions. In its solidarity message for workers on May Day this week, the UDC stated that the resuscitation of the PSBC was used in 2019 General Election by the BDP to deceive workers. It said elections passed and nothing has since happened.

The party further said even in the private sector, there are no industrial councils. All these undermine principles enshrined in convention on collective bargaining and by extension convention on freedom of association.

May Day was this week celebrated under the theme, ‘ Empowering Workers and Strengthening Social Dialogue for Economic Recovery and Real Transformation in the Workplace.’

“All signs are clear that the BDP is dead and finished and has no reform potential. It has split twice in a decade; the country is at its worst in corruption ratings; high unemployment rate; thousands of students thrown into the streets annually from both secondary and tertiary institutions; high crime rate and poorly equipped police officers; the list is endless including poor social services such as health, education, and challenges of access to land by Batswana.

On the other hand, UDC MPs have done exceptionally well in Parliament and their people centred motions were unfairly and unreasonable rejected by the BDP MPs. The recent 13 council by- elections showed how angry citizens wanted change. The ruling BDP won only three seats while 10 went to the opposition collective,” the UDC said in its message.

It further pointed out that millions of lives of gallant workers and jobs were lost globally. Botswana had a fair share of casualties and if it was not because of corruption and mismanagement, lives could have been saved, said the party, adding that there was a shortage of PPEs, oxygen equipment and COVID- 19 vaccines. The coalition stated that a healthy worker is an empowered worker.

“South Africa and India have since proposed a TRIPS Waiver over production of COVID- 19 vaccines and treatment. The USA and EU on the other hand, have ganged up with big pharmaceutical companies to block developing countries from producing local vaccines and PPEs and patent transfer.

A secret document that will block and refuse with patents has been produced by these countries. More pandemics are coming unfortunately and we should be ready with the right vaccines. As workers, we must support African Union Chairperson Cde Cyril Ramaphosa to reject the leaked text that is meant to undermine African countries. The capitalists are after profits and don’t care about our lives. Besides COVID- 19 pandemic, It’s sad today that everything is so expensive, especially food, fuel, rentals, medication and airtime has become a basic need nowadays. You can’t live without it. Negotiating around all these will need special skills.”