President Khama rejects meeting with BDP MPs Who Met With Union Leaders, saying he didn't have time. His position is becoming precarious: On the one hand he has to satisfy the Rothschilds and Oppenheimers-his government's partners in the diamond business-and on the other the electorate and some of the their representatives in his government. The latter are considerably less powerful and fearsome than the former.
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=1114&dir=2011/May/Wednesday25
As usual, those institutions, in this case the UN, which serve the interests of international capital (like the Rothschilds and the Oppenheimers) are doing what they can to demonize the strikers: BOTSWANA: Public sector strike hurts poor
GABORONE, 25 May 2011 (IRIN) - Patients and schoolchildren are emerging as the biggest losers from a strike by public service workers in Botswana which is entering its sixth week.
Close to a 100,000 public servants, including about 1,500 considered essential workers, are staying away from their posts while government and unions tussle over salaries.
Medical practitioners have disregarded warnings by the Botswana Health Professions Council to go back to work or risk being deregistered - with the result that major health centres like the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital in Francistown and Princess Marina Hospital in the capital, Gaborone, are barely functioning, and smaller clinics have closed completely.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=92809
The government is now refusing to talk with union leaders. Sadly, it appears the government's increasingly aggressive tactics have had an effect. The union has reduced it's wage demand from 16 to 12 percent.
"The government considers it unreasonable for the strike to continue, considering that it has made the economic case very clear," cabinet secretary Eric Molale said, reading from the statement.
"Therefore, for the strike to continue indefinitely, as it is -- although by a small minority -- is unreasonable."
The civil servants, who include doctors, nurses and firemen, have scaled back initial demands for a 16 percent salary hike to 12 percent. Inflation in the landlocked southern African country stood at 8.2 percent in March.
Apparently Khama believes that merely "stating" his case and making it "clear" should be sufficient to make the other side acquiesce to his demands.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/botswana-strike-idUSLDE74O0TE20110525
Meanwhile, the union is setting up a trust fund for its members.
http://gazettebw.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9747:bofepusu-sets-up-a-trust-fund&catid=18:headlines&Itemid=2
