Uneasy truce at Deaf school
Gothataone Moeng | Tuesday May 20, 2014 14:14
The Industrial Court yesterday brokered peace in the Ramotswa Centre for Deaf Education labour crisis, ordering the 35 striking workers to return to work and their employer to pay their salaries by Friday.
The workers, who comprise house parents, teacher aids, cleaners and groundsmen, downed tools two weeks ago demanding their April salaries, in a development that forced deaf children into kitchen and other duties.
As the strike continued, fears arose that the Education Ministry would withhold further funding to the Botswana Society for the Deaf (BSD), following an audit that uncovered a financial mess and alleged falsification of books at the institution.
Government through a subvention from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development’s Department of Special Support Services funds the BSD. Last Friday, the Society, which owns the Ramotswa and Francistown Centres for Deaf Education, hauled the 35 employees before court seeking to declare their strike illegal, and demanding their immediate return.
Yesterday, the employees told the Industrial Court that they were willing to return to work if their salaries were paid.
The workers did not have legal representation, while the Botswana Society for the Deaf had retained Motlhatlhedi and Associates’s Lillian Motlhatlhedi as well as Faustino Nga’du.
“By consent, the respondents shall report for duty with immediate effect,” reads Justice Isaac Bahumi’s order.
“The applicants shall effect payment of salaries on or before the 23rd May 2014. “In the event their payment is not effected as above, the parties shall appear in Court on Monday 26th May 2014.” Bahumi also advised the respondents to call their union for further advice as there could be issues of the “no work, no pay” principle being applied. Earlier in court, the disgruntled employees said the National Amalgamated Central, Local & Parastatal Manual Workers Union had failed to advise them on what steps to take following their employer’s failure to pay their April salaries. The 35 employees told Bahumi that union representatives did not turn up when asked to meet and discuss the situation.
Gloria Mogorosi, chosen by her colleagues to speak on their behalf, told the court that the workers appraised the union of their issue on May 2, but received no help. “We requested them to meet us on May 2, but they did not. We only met with them last Friday,” she said. Mogorosi further told the court that the workers were expecting a union representative in court on Friday, but none had pitched up. When Judge Bahumi asked why the respondents had not called the union to ensure that a representative would be in court, Mogorosi said none of the workers had airtime.
BSD Executive Director Orapeleng Mokgosi, in her founding affidavit, argued that the boycott was illegal, as the respondents had not declared a dispute with herself as the employer.
“The strike is not sunctioned (sic) by any lawful authority and no communication has been given to us as to how long the respondents intend to be on strike,” she argued in her affidavit.
Mokgosi further argued that the payment delay is beyond the BSD’s control as it was due to a breakdown of the Government Accounts Budgeting System. Government through a subvention from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development’s Department of Special Support Services funds the BSD.