It is 2022 and the country still has employers who are hell-bent on trampling upon rights of employees who are represented by trade unions they subscribe to. Just recently, the Manual Workers Union successfully interdicted BotswanaPost from implementing new terms and conditions of employment for its members without the union’s knowledge.

The union then took the BotswanaPost to court seeking to stop the postal parastatal from implementing terms and conditions of the workers who fall under their membership without being involved on their behalf. In his ruling, Justice Isaac Bahuma of the Gaborone Industrial Court said the conduct of the Post of giving the applicants’ members revised conditions of service one day and ordering them to sign the same the following working day was totally wrong. Justice Bahuma said the act is indicative of an entity determined to circumvent and deny its employees the right to bargain in good faith. It is thus appropriate to interdict the conduct of the Post, as no other remedy can provide similar protection, he ruled.

The management of BotswanaPost and those in other entities should be ashamed of such practices. The time has come for the government to take a serious look into enforcing labour laws. The law protects employees only on paper while they are exploited on a daily basis. What chance do those who are not unionised have? They know little about their rights as workers and end up being treated unfairly. We applaud the workers and their union and implore all other Batswana to do the same if need be. COVID-19 presented an opportunity for employers to stumble on workers rights claiming businesses were not doing well. While some were justified, most took advantage of the situation to slash workers’ salaries and make other changes without consulting with the employees. We challenge the minister of Labour and Home Affairs to audit labour relations at various work places in order to ensure that there is compliance. Public education is also key to ensuring that workers and employers know their rights and how to better engage each other for productivity. Most importantly, action should be taken against employers who are found to be taking advantage of workers and denying them their rights. To individual workers, you should learn from this case that organising and unionising is important. The unions are legally recognised and once an agreement is in place and it becomes difficult for the employer to take advantage of them.