Four percent proposal keeps BOFEPUSU busy

Oarabile Mosikare | Thursday February 20, 2014 16:37

 

Last week the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) released a statement proposing the four percent salary adjustment across the board, for the financial year 2014-2015. The increment will take effect on April 1, 2014, provided the negotiations are concluded before the end of March. BOFEPUSU was taken aback by the employer’s proposal and the parties agreed to take a 10-day ‘cooling off’ period from the Public Sector Bargaining Council (PSBC).

This week the leadership of BOFEPUSU met and decided that consulting membership with rallies is not really thorough consultation. “We decided that each union should consult through its structures to take mandate,” explained BOFEPUSU secretary general Tobokani Rari. This mandate, Rari said, is about two things: the 2013/14 salary negotiations and the employer’s four percent proposal for 2014/15.

He said they were consulting the general membership about the 2013/14 salary negotiations in view of the fact that government said they should be abandoned.

“The members own the federation. They are the drivers of the action.” He said they have to know what to do when the membership says the government should not abandon the 2013/14 salary negotiations.

He said if the parties reach a deadlock they will follow the normal dispute resolution procedures.

“The next question is what do we do when we have exploited all the procedures. What is left is the industrial action. Are the workers ready for industrial action? This is what we are consulting on and take mandate,” said Rari. He explained that the respective unions are expected to conclude the negotiations this weekend. After the consultations the leadership will go back to the PSBC with a fresh mandate.

BOFEPUSU had proposed a pyramid system for the 2013/14 financial year. This is because the unions felt across the board salary increment exacerbates a gap between the higher earners and the lowest earners.

“The pyramid will cushion the lower earner against inflation.

It will also narrow the gap between the highly paid and the lowly paid,” said a unionist close to the PSBC.

The source said that was why a temporary relief recession allowance has been introduced for grades C4 and below, which is subject to review depending on the performance of the economy, the when the government decided to increase salaries for civil servants by three percent in October 2012.

“The government was admitting that those at the bottom have been hard hit by inflation when compared to the top earners.”

For 2013/14 salary increase the unions had proposed three percent for higher earners and 30 percent for lower earners. BOFEPUSU is made up of the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU), Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU), Botswana Land Boards, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAWHU) and the National Amalgamated, Central and Local Government and Parastatal Workers Union (NACLGPWU).