03 Feb 2025

The introduction of a new principle of majoritarianism into Public Service Act in December 2024 is detrimental to the Botswana Doctors Union (BDU), Botswana Government Workers Union (BOGOWU) and the Trainers and Allied Workers Union's (TAWU) inherent right to bargain for their members.

TAWU president Mr Allan Keitseng said this during official launch of the Free Trade Union Movement (FRETUM) in Gaborone recently. 

“When the Public Service Act of 2008 was changed, in December 2024, the idea, which still stands today, was to strip BOGOWU and TAWU the right to self-determination, and that whatever decided in our absence is binding to these unions,” he said.

Mr Keitseng said the original Public Service Act of 2008 had a provision  stating that “as soon as it is practicable the employer; Directorate of Public Service Management, shall with all recognised trade unions conclude a constitution that will effectively set up the Public Service Bargaining Council.”

However, he was concerned  that the current government decided to remove the conceptual part.

“They did not like the approach of agreeing to the constitution on principle of consensus, which protected all recognised trade unions’ rights. Such principle ensured that any agreement coming out of that process was negotiated, and there was going to be a mutual settlement around the constitution,” he said.

Mr Keitseng said government removed the ‘all recognised’ and replaced it with ‘simple majority’ of the recognised majority. 

“That is very serious and many people do not understand how serious it is. They have stripped the so called minority unions of the right to self-determination,” he added.

Through an Act amending the Public Service Act, published in December 2024, Mr Keitseng expressed concern that the new government introduced a law that stripped the two trade unions of certain rights, but said government’s action came at the right time, when TAWU and BOGOWU were about to launch the FRETUM.

He said changing from the mutual agreement to simple majority meant that the minority trade union’s self-determination issue was no more. 

Free Trade Union Movement, Mr Keitseng said was a voluntary social movement formed voluntarily by social movements/trade unions, being; TAWU, BOGOWU and BDU.

“The choice of the word “Free” in FRETUM, is to ensure you live and walk freedom. This is to take us away from the bondage of captivity, because nowadays trade unions are losing the grip of trade union ideology, as they are being commercialised and whenever trade unions are driven by commercial interests, it is competition,” he said.

TAWU president stressed that all what trade unions needed was to together organise workers and not to compete against each other for that principle.

The law, he said currently allowed for trade unions to organise freely for workers to be members and join the registered trade unions, as these freedoms  were guaranteed by the Constitution of this country.

For that reason, he said TAWU and BOGOWU found it fitting to form a movement, that serve as a platform where trade unions formulated concerted efforts to hold government accountable. 

“In the process of conceptualising this idea, we felt that the two unions - BOGOWU and TAWU whenever responding to issues; national and international or whenever there were issues affecting the union’s shop flow work, our approach was disjointed and this approach was leading to circumstances where the employer may prey on the weaker link.

We then came to the realisation that we need to create a platform, which we can use to respond effectively and timeously to emerging national and international issues and to our everyday trade union challenges,” Mr Keitseng has said.

One of the key elements of FRETUM, he said was to pierce through the established social stratification, because the movement accepted everyone, whether rich, poor or the downtrodden, to join it. ENDS