Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GABORONE235
2005-02-17 05:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Gaborone
Cable title:  

LABOR MEDIATION REFORMS PROCEED SLOWLY

Tags:  ELAB PGOV BC 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GABORONE 000235 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

AF/S FOR DIFFILY
JOHANNESBURG FOR RLO
LABOR FOR ILAB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV BC
SUBJECT: LABOR MEDIATION REFORMS PROCEED SLOWLY


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GABORONE 000235

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

AF/S FOR DIFFILY
JOHANNESBURG FOR RLO
LABOR FOR ILAB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV BC
SUBJECT: LABOR MEDIATION REFORMS PROCEED SLOWLY



1. (U) SUMMARY: Implementation of new labor mediation and
arbitration practices established in the Trade Disputes Act
of 2003 is proceeding slowly. Limited resources have
prevented the Department of Labor from deploying private
mediators/arbitrators, resulting in a trebling of the
disputes registered with the Industrial Court. Given the
tight 2005/06 budget just announced, this backlog is likely
to persist for months to come. END SUMMARY.

--------------
NEW LEGISLATION REFORMS MEDIATION PROCESS
--------------


2. (U) In 2003, Botswana's National Assembly passed a Trade
Disputes Act and amendments to other labor laws designed to
bring the country into compliance with its International
Labor Organization (ILO) requirements. This legislation,
which went into effect April 24, 2004, allowed most civil
servants to unionize (those whose functions were deemed
vital to national security were excepted),permitted unions
to employ fulltime officers, and called for a restructured
dispute resolution process.


3. (U) Prior to the Trade Disputes Act, parties to a
dispute reported first to a district labor officer who
attempted to mediate. Disputes not resolved at the district
level were passed on to a regional labor officer for another
round of mediation. Only if efforts at this level failed
would parties register a case at the Industrial Court.


4. (U) The Trade Disputes Act of 2003 called for the
creation of a panel of private mediators/arbitrators from
which district labor offices could select an individual for
assignment to each dispute. In instances where a conflict
is not resolved, parties could proceed immediately to
register a case at the Industrial Court, eliminating the
requirement to submit to mediation by a regional labor
officer. The Act also stipulated that if a case was not
heard within 30 days, parties could proceed directly to the
Industrial Court, skipping mediation altogether.

--------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR PLEAS LACK OF FUNDS
--------------


5. (U) The Department of Labor has not deployed the private
mediators called for in the Trade Disputes Act of 2003.
According to Commissioner of Labor Claude Mojafi, his office
estimated that it would need to hire 62 full-time and 89

part-time mediators/arbitrators. (This was based on the
projection that unionization of civil servants could
increase the average annual number of disputes by up to 20
percent, from 10,000 to 12,000.) Thanks to an ILO-Swiss
project, some 30 labor experts from Botswana, by Mojafi's
estimate, participated in a postgraduate diploma program in
mediation and arbitration. He hopes to employ some part-
time mediators during the year but was not sure how many.
He reported that the recently-released budget for 2005/06
had earmarked no money for this purpose. Funding for
mediators will depend on how the Ministry of Labor and Home
Affairs and the Department of Labor allocate their
respective budgets.

--------------
INDUSTRIAL COURT INUNDATED
--------------


6. (U) The absence of new mediators, combined with the 30-
day time frame, has resulted in a trebling of disputes
registered with the Industrial Court. In 2004, the number
of disputes registered with the Industrial Court shot up to
1,030 from 343 in 2003, an increase of 200%. Consequently,
parties who approached the Industrial Court in Gaborone in
January could not receive a hearing until August. At the
same time, the Industrial Court's branch in Francistown was
backlogged until November. Whereas parties previously
waited months for mediation, they now wait 30 days, then
proceed to join the queue awaiting a hearing at the
Industrial Court.


7. (U) According to the Registrar of the Industrial Court,
that body is attempting to expand to deal with this influx
of cases. The Registrar told PolOff that the Court had
requested that the Government sanction money to hire two
more judges and to purchase office space adjoining its
current offices for two more chambers. Given the long-term
increase in disputes projected to result from the
unionization of 70,000-odd civil servants, the Registrar was
hopeful that the Government would accommodate this request.

--------------
ORGANIZED LABOR FRUSTRATED
--------------


8. (SBU) Ronald Baipidi, President of the Botswana
Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU),expressed frustration at
the slow pace at which labor reforms were materializing. He
attributed the current confused state of industrial dispute
resolution largely to "incompetence" at the Department of
Labor. Baipidi cited the practice of some district labor
officers of automatically forwarding disputes to the
Industrial Court when their calendars were booked 30-days
out. On occasion, disputes were forwarded to the Industrial
Court without notifying the parties, many of whom would have
preferred to wait longer than 30 days for mediation. Labor
Commissioner Mojafi admitted that this had occurred but said
it had been corrected. Now, labor officers ask disputing
parties if they prefer to wait beyond 30 days for mediation
or to register with the Industrial Court.


9. (U) Baipidi argued that this demonstrates the need for
training in the new laws and regulations for government
officials, employers and workers. He expressed hope that
the Department of Labor-funded Improving Labor Systems in
Southern Africa project might provide such instruction.

--------------
UNION REFORMS PROCEED SLOWLY
--------------


10. (U) Baipidi noted that the BFTU had not yet been able
to appoint fulltime officers, due largely to a lack of
funds. He hoped that by the end of the year the Federation
would have a director general in place but was not
confident. The pace at which BFTU takes advantage of this
new right, he predicted, will depend on the pace at which
the numerous and relatively well-paid civil servants
unionize and affiliate to BFTU.


11. (U) The first public sector workers associations are
likely to register as unions starting in June or July of
this year, Baipidi estimated. The BFTU is currently working
with a number of associations to draft union constitutions.
Baipidi expected that the various associations would
unionize and affiliate with BFTU and thereafter amalgamate
based on their sectors, e.g. teachers, employees of the
central and local governments, and university faculty.
Associations of secondary school teachers and local
government employees are furthest along the path to
unionization.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


12. (SBU) Labor issues have never been accorded a high
priority by the GOB. Compliance with ILO obligations was
further obstructed by the war against HIV/AIDS, and the
extraordinary strain it places on the Government's budget.
Diversion of funds to combat that disease and its impact on
society has left Government departments, including labor,
strapped for resources. While the backlog of cases at the
Industrial Court resulted in part from an administrative
mistake, the underlying problem - insufficient mediators -
is unlikely to change soon.


13. (SBU) The GOB, like private industry in Botswana, has a
history of co-opting into management the leadership of its
workers associations. This strategy has succeeded in
keeping civil servants relatively compliant. Consequently,
enthusiasm for unionization among public servants,
especially at the central government level, has been low and
the process of organizing them slow. The exceptions to this
are the teachers' associations, whose grievances over low
pay, eroding status, and work overload are a perennial
source of protest, and the employees of local government
institutions, whose lowly status in Botswana's bureaucracies
ensures resentment.

HUGGINS