No turning back on staggering government paydays
BOFEPUSU disappointed by government’s refusal to listen
The Deputy Secretary General of the Botswana Federation of Public, Private and Parastatal Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) Ketlhalefile Motshegwa says that government is not willing to hold consultative meetings with unions to discuss issues affecting employees.
They are aggrieved that government has taken a decision to start staggering pay days without consulting them first.
A savingram dated the 16th February 2022 details that public servants will be paid from the 5th to the 22nd at the latest from April this year.
Workers have been categorised by ministries to determine who gets paid in the first, second and third week of the month.
The bulk of government employees will be paid on the first week of the month.
The last paid group will be all teaching staff and the Botswana Defense Force (BDF).
Asked if there have been any talks between them and government concerning the matter, Motshegwa said
they were notified last year that they will be consulted on the matter but that never happened.
“We have raised our worry with them on their behaviour of unilateral decisions like this one. We are aggrieved by lack of consultation and the arrangement doesn’t make sense to workers,” Motshegwa said.
He argued that payment dates have been restructured closer to the beginning of each month, which has a bearing on already existing arrangements of debit orders for workers particularly those outside payroll deduction.
They demand to know what motivated the changes.
At press time, efforts to get official response from the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) proved futile, but a high ranking government official very close to the matter has indicated that the decision has been taken and there is no turning back.
“I can confirm that the leaked Savingram carried all the truth, on the 7th April people will get paid their salaries and the next group will be paid the following week,” the source confirmed.