BONU wields knives at Health ministry
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday April 28, 2025 15:31
Government recently took Botswana Doctors Union to court to try stop what it terms a strike by doctors doing only 24 hours emergency call per month. Now, nurses and midwives through Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) have reported Government to the Department of Labour. The union through secretary-general, Lebogang Phillip has written to its members informing them of a dispute lodged regarding compensation for excess hours worked between April 2022 and August 2024 and standby allowance for on-call nurses. According to Phillip, BONU has, for an extended period, sought to engage both the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) regarding the compensation for excess hours worked and the payment of standby allowances to Nurses and Midwives on call. Unfortunately, their efforts have not yielded any positive outcomes, said Philip.
As a result, he said BONU has formally lodged a dispute with the Regional Labour Office in a matter that has been scheduled for hearing on 20th May 2025. “In the meantime, all nurses and midwives are encouraged to continue documenting any overtime worked and to submit these records to their respective Human Resources offices and ensure that they keep their own copies,” he stated. Philip also said it is unfortunate that the Employer has resorted to change legislation in an effort to subject Nurses and Midwives to slavery and resort to litigation despite the constant advice from the President of the country not to litigate on matters where the employer is wrong. BONU has also accused the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), the Ministry of Health, and the District Health Management Team (DHMT) for their involvement in the matter Earlier in January 2025, BONU accused DPSM, MoH and the DHMT of adopting an approach that exploits nurses and midwives. The union said the said health workers have been subjected to prolonged working hours without compensation against the Employment Act and international labour best practices. To that end, BONU then resolved that it is in the best interest of its members to adopt strict adherence to the judgment of the Court of Appeal (CoA) on the ‘Call to Duty’ policy until such a time that the ministry agrees to negotiate on the development of a framework and guidelines and to compensate the members accordingly. DPSM had in late 2023 partly succeeded in its pursuit to quash an Industrial Court order that would spell the discontinuation of the ‘Call to Duty’ for nurses or pay overtime as per a prior Industrial Court judgment by Justice Galesite Baruti.
A panel of three CoA justices Modiri Letsididi, Goemekgabo Tebogo-Maruping, and Tshegofatso Mogomotsi, concurred in a ruling that the employer’s appeal succeeds in part in respect of two parts of the Industrial Court order, which must reflect that the time spent on call by the nurses and midwives be regarded as working time and where appropriate as overtime if they are required to be physically present at the health facility. The government, through the DPSM, lost the case against the nurses and decided to lodge an appeal in an attempt to cling to the long-standing ‘Call to Duty’ practice, which the nurses have argued is an abuse they have endured for a long time. The CoA made the determination that there is a distinction between active and non-active on-call duty and by virtue of this distinction, nurses and midwives who are rostered to be on-call, are only considered to be working when they are physically present at their workstations. Essentially, the time that nurses and midwives spend away from the workstation whilst waiting to be called for duty is not deemed to work and as such, they are not remunerated or compensated for such time.
According to BONU Publicity Secretary, Kenosi Mogorosi, other employees in the public service who render the same essential services as nurses and midwives, are paid both overtime allowances as well as standby allowances as compensation for the time they work beyond their stipulated work hours and whilst awaiting to be called for duty (standby). “To wit, this approach seeks to justify the failure to compensate nurses and midwives for the time spent on stand-by through alleging that such time is provided for by the 30% commuted allowance. This approach ignores the practical reality that, when nurses and midwives are rostered to be on-call, they are unable to commit their time (which has been ruled to be time off duty or free time) to any other personal or private activity,” he said. Mogorosi said there is no requirement for nurses and midwives to use their personal resources or transportation to travel to workstations when rostered on call, as such, the ministry and DHMT shall consequently have to make arrangements for them to attend to their duties. “BONU is fully aware of the prejudice that the public at large will suffer as a result of this strict adherence to the current terms and conditions of service, however, it is a necessary step aimed at ensuring that the ministry and DHMT act accordingly to ensure that nurses and midwives are not subjected to cruel, exploitative, and unfair labour practices,” he said.
In response, the Ministry of Health says it was aware of the divergent views on the call to duty matter, between itself and the employer (DPSM) on one hand, and BONU, on the other. However, the ministry didn't expect that BONU would advise its members not to perform their call-to-duty functions at this point. “This is because the December 2024 meetings held between the three parties resolved that this issue be referred for negotiations and final determination by all the parties,” Chief Public Relations Officer in the ministry Dr Christopher Nyanga wrote. Nyanga said the ministry wrote to BONU, advising them to withdraw the statement, because it was ill-advised and was bound to cause confusion within the nursing fraternity and panic within the communities that they serve. The ministry, therefore, advised nurses to continue performing all call-to-duty functions as before. “Not doing so, will be in violation of not only their conditions of service but also their professional conduct and ethical obligations to the patient. Should there be any developments in this matter, all the concerned parties, not just one, will make an official announcement as to the way forward,” he said.