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Botswana: Listen to Khama - Ditau
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
7 April 2008
Posted to the web 7 April 2008
Tumelo Setshogo
President of Botswana Secondary School Teachers Union (BOSETU), Eric Ditau has pleaded with teachers to be committed to their work to avoid the sack.
He reminded teachers to listen carefully to the strong words of new president Ian Khama during his inauguration on Tuesday last week about service delivery. Diatu said though the strong words of Khama were directed to senior members of government, they as junior workers are not immune to any disciplinary measure taken against their seniors. "We should pull our socks up to avoid falling out of the system for not performing," Ditau said at a two-day workshop at Boipuso Hall for BOSETU regional shop stewards. He told teachers to work hard by executing their duties diligently and without compromise. He advised the shop stewards not to forget their role as teachers while doing union business.
Workshop facilitator Andrew Briscoe advised BOSETU shop stewards to be conversant with all labour legislation like Employment Act, Teaching Service Act, Trade Union and Employers' Organisation Act, Interpretation Act, Trade Dispute Act and General Orders. He said BOSETU members should make sure that they comply with relevant statutes to avoid finding themselves on the wrong side of the law and losing recognition by the employer as a vital player in labour negotiations.
He said another reason that can force the employer to cut ties with the unions is when union membership falls below 25 percentage of the total workforce. Briscoe said membership is vital to keep the union solid in the endeavour to represent workers.
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"However, for the government to withdraw its recognition for the unions, it needs to go to a court of law, in this case the Industrial Court to seek the order," he said.
Briscoe gave all the shop stewards a hand out on the implications of unionisation. The hand outs have an overview of the labour laws in Botswana, grievances and disputes in the workplace, formal and informal grievances, legal procedure-disputes at work, rights of workers, introduction to industrial relations, requirements for fair labour relations, disciplinary process and stages, worker representative-roles and responsibilities of shop stewards.
The European Commission through the Ministry of Finance sponsored the workshop with P50,000 under the Technical Cooperation Facility (TCF) signed between the European Union (EU) and Botswana. The workshop ended on Friday.
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