The two worlds of civil service and private sector
Bame Piet | Thursday April 30, 2015 13:11
Unlike the civil service, life for workers in the private sector is not easy. It is a dog eat dog affair and survival of the fittest in the private sector where unionisation is a cumbersome process often accompanied by suspicions with possible dismissal by employer looming large.
Terrifying, are the conditions under which some of the workers find themselves in the private sector while in the civil service an officer can afford to turn back a client with the flimsiest of excuses like the stamp has run out of ink or copies of forms have been exhausted. Unlike the civil service, there is no bargaining council in the private sector.
In some instances, workers in the private sector have to use their own resources to fulfil do the business obligations of their employer. In the civil service a BX vehicle is often on standby to go and procure biscuits for a workshop.
Assistant secretary general of Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU), Thusang Butale says for the years he has been in office, he has never witnessed or heard of government labour officers inspecting private business. This is despite reports of workers being locked in factories overnight or being denied access to toilets or exposed to dangerous chemicals without protective clothing.
It is difficult for BFTU to assist its members in the private sector, nor does it know how many they are.
“At the moment we do not have the exact figures of members and we are working on mechanisms to collect data and organise them to establish unions,” Butale said yesterday.
He said there are employees who work for small companies, family owned firms or retail stores, who should be brought together to unionise and speak with one voice. The challenge, he said is that many employers seem to think that unionisation is an evil that should not be entertained.
“It is therefore important for the government to educate these people (employers) about the fact that every employee has a right to unionise. There is always resistance when employees try to organise themselves, or join an existing union,” he said.
The woes of employees in the private sector is compounded by the fact that most government labour inspectors do not possess the necessary skills. Butale said that labour law is toothless and makes a mockery of the inspections of factories and other private sector workplaces.
“The inspectors have no power to shut down a factory that does not comply with safety standards. Whatever inspections that are done are not adequate, they need to be enhanced through strengthening of the law,” he said.
Meanwhile organising secretary of the Manual Workers Union has hinted that some members of unions from the private sector to join the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU).
“Our union is for parastatals and not private sector. We do not want to rush into accepting them into our fold only for us to be unable to serve them,” he said. He added that the process of setting up a union for the private sector is a very challenging one. However, they have already started working on ways to tackle the challenges.
“First, employees of each and every entity in a sector, have to be brought together, and their employers as well. For example, for filling station employees to unionise, each and every filling station should enter into an agreement with the employer,”
Motshwarakgole explained. He said that they are going to establish an Industrial Council (similar to the Public Service Bargaining Council) though this might take time. At the moment, labour/factory inspections in the private sector are done without the input of unions. So is the decision to set the minimum wage.