ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses an overview of the growth and development of the trade union movement in Botswana. Trade unions, and the movement of class of which they are a part, are dynamic social organisations that develop both quantitatively and qualitatively over time. Working class consciousness is a dynamic phenomenon. In Botswana, as in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the development of trade unionism to a large extent parallels the late arrival of capitalism in this part of the world. Until the 1940s there were no trade unions in the country. The persistent underdevelopment of the economy and the absence of wage labour on any significant scale ensured that there was virtually no working class to support a trade union movement. One of the most striking features of Botswana’s industrial relations system is the weakness of organised labour vis-a-vis capital in the process of collective bargaining and negotiations on various labour issues, including the settlement of labour disputes.
