US embassy cable - 05GABORONE235

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, Labor 
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. 
 
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NEW LEGISLATION REFORMS MEDIATION PROCESS 
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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. 
 
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR PLEAS LACK OF FUNDS 
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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. 
 
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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. 
 
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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. 
 
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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. 
 
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COMMENT 
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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