Botswana public servants challenge labour law change

Botswana's public sector union has taken the government to court to contest the classification of diamond cutters and teachers as essential workers who cannot strike, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Hot on the heels of the country's first-ever civil servants strike closing hospitals and schools, Labour Minister Peter Siele last week expanded the list of essential workers to include veterinarians, teachers and diamond sorters and cutters.

"It is unlawful for the government to classify any workers as essential without consulting the said employees and their unions. We have thus sought court's intervention," union representative Goretetse Kekgonegile told AFP.

He said parliament had to endorse the changes, which did not happen in this case.

"We will not fold our hands while the government changes labour laws as it pleases."

Previously, essential services included air traffic control, electricity services, fire services, the bank of Botswana, health services and sewage services.

The Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions earlier this month ended an eight-week stayaway for a 16 percent salary increase.

Public workers settled for three percent after the government insisted it could not afford a larger increase as the global economic crisis sapped demands for diamonds, the mainstay of the economy.