BOTSWANA LABOR FEDERATION FACING UPHILL STRUGGLE

UNCLAS GABORONE 001605

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

AF/S FOR MUNCY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM BC
SUBJECT: BOTSWANA LABOR FEDERATION FACING UPHILL STRUGGLE

REF: (A) 04 GABORONE 1607 (B) GABORONE 235 (C) GABORONE 685


1. (U) SUMMARY: The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions
has appealed to the ILO over a dispute between the Botswana
Mine Workers Union and Debswana following a contentious
strike last year. BMWU, plagued by internal divisions some
attribute to management meddling, is fast running out of
funds to challenge in court the dismissal of over 461 mine
workers. In a separate, but similar development, a manual
workers union is emerging from a factional battle that some
trace to Government interference. Although Government
officials privately and publicly support unions and their
active participation in a tripartite relationship, some
cabinet members dislike them. In order to take advantage of
recent reforms to Botswana's labor law, trade unions need
assistance to build their capacity to better manage their
resources, mobilize their members, and engage as equal
partners with management and government. END SUMMARY.

LABOR FEDERATION TAKES POST-STRIKE DISMISSALS TO ILO


2. (U) The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) has
registered a formal complaint with the ILO over the
dismissal by Debswana, the fifty-fifty joint venture between
the GOB and DeBeers that runs Botswana's diamond mines, of
over 461 workers after last year's contentious mine workers
strike (Ref A). The complaint alleges that the dismissals
unfairly targeted union activists. Debswana fired 461
workers who had participated in the strike in September 2004
and, over the following months, dismissed several union
leaders who had not participated in the strike.


3. (SBU) According to Debswana's Corporate Communications
Manager Kabelo Binns, strikers with otherwise clean records
received a final written warning for participating in the
illegal strike but kept their jobs. Those who already had a
final written warning on file were dismissed. Binns
conceded that in the past the company had bent the rules to
retain "management-friendly" employees despite incidents of
misconduct because they were considered useful to have in
the union. He acknowledged that, from a management
perspective, this approach was "the wrong thing to do," and
counter-productive in the long term. In fact, Debswana
retained some strikers with final warnings on file, which
Debswana explained as leniency to those whose warnings were
about to expire at the time of the strike, and which the
union has called selective punishment.


4. (SBU) Several union leaders who had not gone on strike
were subsequently investigated and dismissed for various
reasons. BMWU Jwaneng Branch Committee member Onkabetse
Mathaithai described how the shop steward at the Jwaneng
mine was dismissed for inciting workers to strike though he
denied doing so and had worked with management to ensure
that the strikers did not become violent or prevent non-
strikers from entering the mine. He also alleged that the
Jwaneng Branch Committee Vice Chair was fired for
absenteeism even though he reportedly had sought and
obtained leave for the days cited as unauthorized absences.
Mr. Binns conceded that management identified union leaders
they believed to be responsible for the strike and
investigated them for possible wrongdoing, but said that in
each case legitimate grounds for dismissal were found, such
as attempting to wrongfully procure confidential information
or sabotaging equipment.


5. (U) BMWU has challenged the dismissal of the 461
strikers through legal and political channels. When
presented with petitions to intervene in the dispute on
their behalf, the Office of the President responded that the
established labor dispute mechanisms are appropriate and
sufficient to handle the matter. Efforts by the Department
of Labor to mediate fizzled when the BMWU responded to
management's delaying tactics by appealing to the Industrial
Court. The union engaged attorneys but has made little
progress, in part because it is running out of money to pay
its legal fees.

BMWU: DIVIDED BY DESIGN?


6. (U) After the August-September 2004 strike, members of
the BMWU elected a new and more confrontational National
Executive Committee (NEC). The outgoing executive refused
to hand over their offices to the newly elected committee or
to introduce them to management as called for in the union's
constitution. When the Department of Labor certified the
new NEC as the legitimate leadership of the union, Debswana
objected that the required handover had not taken place.

The company has continued to refuse to recognize the newly
elected NEC despite the government's ruling.


7. (U) During November 1 meetings with PolOff and Pol
Assistant, members of the BMWU Branch Committee in Jwaneng
and members of the town council claimed that Debswana
management had orchestrated this divide. They asserted that
management had made available company vehicles and time off
from work to members of the management-aligned faction to
travel from Orapa to mine locations around the country to
lobby against the new NEC. As a result, many of the branch
committees are now withholding their monthly subscriptions
from the NEC. Members of the union executive, who are
unemployed, rely on their personal resources to carry out
union business.


8. (U) BMWU members predicted to Embassy officers that by
year's end, the pro-management faction would call for a new
election in an effort to oust the current NEC. Unless a
break-through occurs, they also predicted that BMWU would
have to abandon its legal challenge of the post-strike
dismissals due to lack of funds.


9. (U) Union activists and opposition politicians have
condemned the Government's refusal to intervene on behalf of
the fired workers. On the rare occasion that ruling party
politicians have spoken out on the subject, they have
denounced the strikers as troublemakers.

MANUAL WORKERS UNION EMERGING FROM SPLIT


10. (U) Leaders of the National Amalgamated Local and
Central Government and Parastatal Manual Workers Union
(Manual Workers Union) painted for PolOff and Pol Assistant
a similar picture of internal divisions, which they blamed
on political interference. In June 2004, they said, some
members of the union's national executive who have close
ties to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) decided
to make a bid to take control of the union. They accused
union leaders of abusing union funds to enrich themselves.
In response, the union appointed a four-person panel of non-
union members, half from the ruling party and half from the
opposition, to investigate the accusations. After the panel
exonerated the leaders, the disgruntled pro-BDP members were
voted out of office during a national election in December

2004.


11. (U) The would-be union leaders then filed four cases
before the High Court against the members of the national
executive. Eventually, the High Court ruled in favor of the
incumbents in each case but while the cases were pending,
from December 2004 to May 2005, the union's bank accounts
were frozen.


12. (U) Having lost their positions of influence in the
Manual Workers Union, the accusers moved to establish a
breakaway union. In July of 2005, leaders of this faction
reportedly met with their supporters, Minister of Education
Jacob Nkate and Minister of Local Government Margaret Nasha,
whose ministries account for the majority of manual workers
employed by the Government. Subsequently, members of this
faction engaged in a campaign to disrupt Manual Workers
Union meetings and began organizing to establish a breakaway
union. In an August meeting, participants allegedly
indicated that members of the police intelligence unit had
encouraged them to form their own union. Assistant
Commissioner of Labor Sissy Seemule confirmed to PolOff that
this breakaway group has sought to register as the Botswana
Government Workers Union.

LABOR FEDERATION MISSING IN ACTION


13. (U) Members of both the BMWU and the Manual Workers
Union lamented to EmbOffs the failure of the Botswana
Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU),the national umbrella
organization, to support them in the midst of these
challenges. BMWU members stated that BFTU agreed to file a
complaint with the ILO only after repeated prodding. The
manual workers resented the fact that BFTU appeared to side
with what became the splinter group. Conversations with the
President of the BFTU Ronald Baipidi made it clear that the
BFTU has difficulty dealing with the fact that the Manual
Workers Union accounts for the vast majority of Botswana's
union members. Fearing domination by one union, the BFTU
pushed through a change to its constitution that equalized
the votes of each union regardless of its size. This has
greatly diminished the influence within BFTU of the best-
resourced union in the country.

MIXED SIGNALS FROM GOVERNMENT


14. (U) Publicly and privately, officials in the Department
of Labor have expressed their support for labor unions. In
remarks to the press on October 12, Deputy Commissioner of
Labor Richard Mukuwa encouraged workers to join unions,
observing that employers are more likely to deal fairly with
employees when they are organized. Assistant Commissioner
of Labor Sissy Seemule, upon returning from an labor-related
IVLP trip in September, expressed to EmbOffs her interest in
working with unions to ensure protection of workers rights.

COMMENT


15. (SBU) Support for unions at the official level is not
matched at the political level. When representatives of the
461 BMWU members who were fired after last year's strike met
with Vice President Khama, for example, he reportedly told
them that he did not even support the existence of their
union. Minister of Labor and Home Affairs Maj. Gen. Moeng
Pheto publicly urged unions to focus on labor issues
"without any political influence" and reprimanded unnamed
unionists for occasionally "acting out of order due to
influence from politicians." Although Botswana law, as
confirmed by labor officials, does not prevent unions from
engaging in political activity, these remarks suggest an
antipathy toward unions within cabinet. Even more telling
is the fact that the Department of Labor has so far been
unable to have its ruling concerning the executive committee
of the BMWU enforced on Debswana.


16. (SBU) Given the history of mutual support between labor
unions and opposition parties, it is not surprising to find
that some ruling party politicians regard unions with
distrust or hostility. While the National Assembly has made
recent progress in protecting workers' rights and the
Department of Labor has taken steps to improve its
administration of labor law (Refs B and C),it is apparent
that individual politicians have not been particularly
responsive to union concerns or have made allies within the
labor movement mostly for the damage they might be able to
inflict on their political opponents. As the popularity of
the Botswana Democratic Party has ebbed, some BDP activists
have also come to see stronger unions as one more threat to
their continued rule. Other BDP members have argued that
the Party should cultivated better ties with organized labor
as a tactic for reversing its downward trajectory.


17. (U) Botswana's trade unions, long hamstrung by an
unfavorable legislative environment, may need assistance to
weather the current political turbulence and to take
advantage of recent amendments to labor laws allowing them
to organize public servants and to employ full-time elected
officials. During an October 13-14 visit to Botswana,
officials of the Solidarity Center indicated their interest
in stepping up their activities in Botswana. Our Mission
looks forward to working with them.

CANAVAN


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