Sustained labour tensions hurtful to employers, workers

Govt accused of failing to honour commitments

The decades- long high tension between the country’s biggest employer, government and labour parties has been exacerbated by the employer’s failure to honour commitments emanating from the 2018/ 19 round of negotiations.

The labour party said the employer’s failure to resuscitate the Public Sector Bargaining Council ( PSBC) is a direct consequence of an insidious strategy to encourage the proliferation of unions in order to weaken powerful unions.

The public sector unions stated that to achieve this objective, the employer party unreasonably insists on lowering the threshold for recognition at the bargaining table and according votes of large and small unions equal weight.

“The employer party does so in order to dilute the votes of the unions that have numbers, thus effectively weakening the voice of the majority of public sector employees. Reform the archaic public sector salary structure: During the 2018/ 2019 round of negotiations, the parties agreed to replace the operational public sector salary structure, which they agreed was inefficient, with the more flexible salary structure recommended by the PEMANDU Report.

“The latter structure offers salary bands that are wide enough to address the problem of workers running out of space for salary progression because they reach the ceiling of their bands too quickly.

“This problem is especially acute in the teaching cadre. The new salary structure would also obviate need to use the SCA to compensate those who possess skills that attract a premium in the market, for example, doctors, engineers and lawyers”, said the five Cooperating Public Sector Union which have just concluded their negotiations with government over salary increase and conditions of service for public servants.

The five Cooperating Public Sector unions are Botswana Land boards, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union ( BLLAHWU), Botswana Nurses Union ( BONU), Botswana Public Employees Union ( BOPEU), Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union ( BOSETU) and Botswana Teachers Union ( BTU).

They have reached a five percent salary increase for public servants with the employer for financial years 2022/ 23, 2023/ 24 and 2024/ 25.

According to the labour party’s Position Paper acting on recommendations agreed to regarding non- wage or salary dimensions of conditions of service in the public sector, this is the development of a Remuneration Policy, which though not explicitly recognised as such, is a critical demand management tool.

The union explained that as in the last round of negotiations, the public sector unions’ key proposals are informed by economic conditions, the labour market, and past assessments commissioned by Botswana Federation of Public, private and Parastatal Sectors Union ( BOFEPUSU) and the Directorate of Public Service Management ( DPSM), in particular the PEMANDU Report titled “Remuneration Review of the Public Service”.

“The cooperating unions are not oblivious to the economic challenges of the moment. On the contrary, they appreciate the state of the economy, the country’s fiscal position, and the broad spectrum of socioeconomic challenges the country has to contend with.

“However, the cooperating unions are confident that the proposed adjustment is reasonable, necessary and advisable. It is reasonable because it does no more than compensate workers for the erosion of their incomes. Furthermore, recent trends suggest that the economy is on course to achieve a strong recovery, undergirded by robust recoveries in the regional and global economies.

“It is necessary because it will provide the stimulus the economy needs at the moment, as well as a platform for improved labour relations and the transformation of productivity in the public sector,” said the unions in their Position Paper, adding that the proposed adjustment will improve employee morale, with potentially positive impacts on productivity.