SPS 27/05/2021 - 15:03
Gaborone (Botswana) 27 May 2021 (SPS)- Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) backed Botswana Government’s position on Western Sahara and affirmed that Africa cannot be free as long as Western Sahara is not free, in a Press Statement it issued Today in reaction to Africa Day’s statement of Botswana’s Minister for External relation, Honourable Dr. Lemogang Kwape, widely broadcasted on the country’s Medias last Tuesday 25th may.
“BFTU would like to acknowledge with a deep sense of pride and gratitude the Botswana government’s position on the state of Western Sahara (Saharawi Republic) in its Africa Day message through the Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr. Lemogang Kwape,” the text reads.
While labour insisted it was defending the rights of the sacked workers, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai argued that the government was not convinced that devoting about 70 per cent of the revenue accruing to the state to the payment of workers’ salaries who constitute less than five per cent of the total population was not right. x
The unwillingness of both Labour and Kaduna State government to arrive at a consensus led to the declaration of a five-day warning strike by the NLC.
The National Administrative Council (NAC) headed by the President of Congress, Ayuba Wabba, had tabled the administrative action to the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC), seeking its approval to embark on industrial action, if the mass sack was not reversed.
Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) proudly joins the world, and the nursing fraternity in particular, in commemorating the International Day of Nursing namely 12 May 2021 in acknowledgement of the extra-ordinary contribution the nurses make to the wellbeing of society in our midst and across the globe.
Many attributes have been ascribed to the vocation of nursing and other poetic definitions have been given in order to express the extra ordinary role nurses play in our everyday life. As for us at BFTU we share the view that the term, “Nurse” is just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate anything and soft enough to understand anyone.
BFTU slaps Masisi with fierce demands
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Following these celebrations over the weekend, BFTU presented demands for decent work and sustainable development to government.
In fact, the Union is advocating for a new social contract in which employee’s welfare, rights and social protection as well as the need for inclusion occupy centre space.
“On behalf of the labour movement in general, factors in our own midst which still inhibit taking everyone along, include the absence in our country, of a mandatory and genuinely national tripartite framework where both employer organizations and trade unions along with government can ventilate their concerns and any apparent demands for a better life for their members and improved working environment.”