Frederick Douglass

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them..." Frederick Douglass

Monday, May 30, 2011

Public Workers In Botswana Capitulate

Striking civil servants abandoned their request for a sixteen percent increase and agreed to the government's offer of three. Workers stubbornly held out for six weeks, but have now acquiesced. The government has fired about 1,500 and arrested a couple of union leaders, and it worked.[1]

I cannot criticize these people, not after the valiant effort they put forth, but this can only be classified as a epic defeat for organized labor. The government turned up the heat, and workers backed down.

The government agreed to reinstate fired workers, and to prorate the salary increase so lower-paid workers got a larger share.[2]

The deal is being described as tentative by the union in a face-saving canard.

[1] http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=1196&dir=2011/May/Friday27

[2] http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=1254&dir=2011/May/Monday30