PSBC in limbo
Unions lodge dispute against government
Three years later the Public Service Bargaining Council ( PSBC) remains a work in progress, thereby straining labour relations between government and public sector trade unions.
These differences have since led to the unions lodging a dispute with the Commissioner of Labour. The unions are Botswana Land Board, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union ( BLLAHWU), Botswana Nurses Union ( BONU), Botswana Public Employees Union ( BOPEU), Botswana Sectors of Teachers Union ( BOSETU), Botswana Teachers Union ( BTU) and the National Amalgamated Central, Local and Parastatal Manual Workers’ Union ( NALGCCPWU).
In 2019 President Mokgweetsi Masisi instructed that the PSBC be resuscitated. There has been back and forth delays with the resuscitation as unions accused the Directorate of Public Service Management ( DPSM) or the employer of delay tactics and disinterest in seeing the council established. Nothing much has however been done in the past years for the PSBC which was deregistered by government to come to life hence the PSBC remains a pipedream.
Governments are mandated by the International Labour Organisation to see to it that machinery for collective bargaining is functional. Immediately after assuming the Presidency, Masisi promised that the PSBC will be functional by the end of the year, but up to now there are no signs of the Council coming into place.
This has become a source of conflict between the Unions and Government, with the former blaming the latter for failure or reluctance to form the Council. The Unions have declared a dispute
The Unions say Government is failing to put in place labour institutions, something which has weakened or worsened industrial relations in the country.
at Labour on a matter to be heard on the 19th October 2022, where if there is no settlement, they are likely to head to Court.
The Unions say Government is failing to put in place labour institutions, something which has weakened or worsened industrial relations in the country. They say Masisi‘ s administration has done nothing to improve industrial relations particularly institutions or structures.
Last year, Masisi acknowledged that the process has not been easy. He said the process of resuscitation can only be achieved by Government and Public Service Trade Unions by agreeing on a constitution for the PSBC which is a statutory structure established in terms of the Public Service Act of 2008.