BOFEPUSU salary case goes to Court of Appeal
Oarabile Mosikare | Wednesday August 20, 2014 12:02
In May, Justice Michael Leburu of the Lobatse High Court ruled that the four percent salary hike by the government would not stop BOFEPUSU from bargaining for a higher increase or seeking redress through a normal court process rather than on urgency.
BOFEPUSU had applied for a High Court order under a certificate of urgency to restrain President Ian Khama and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) Carter Morupisi from making pronouncements on public service salary negotiations and to reverse government’s decision to increase public servants salaries by four percent.
The BOFEPUSU deputy secretary general, Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said the appeal is likely to be heard sometime next month. “This case is important as it will forever determine whether there are two centres of power to decide on the conditions of service of the public service, and that whether it is the Public Sector Bargaining Council (PSBC) or the President,” he said.
After the High Court decision, he said the parties went back to the PSBC to negotiate. But the employer’s representatives indicated that the four percent and conditions of service that were offered are those that were tabled at the PSBC which is contrary to what the court was made to believe.
“The unions then insisted in view of the fact that the 4% and the conditions of service that were tabled at the PSBC have now been unilaterally implemented, that there is need for the employer to make an offer as there were no negotiable items on the table,” Motshegwa explained.
He said that the employer could not put anything on the table but indicated that there will be a budget review in September and that is when the government will assess the state of the economy and offer something should there be signs of economic recovery. “The unions then decided that they will not continue to be seated at a table while there is nothing concrete on the table that has been offered by the employer for negotiations. The motivation of the union was the need to protect their right to good faith bargaining and for prevalence of integrity of PSBC in its function.
Unions then took a decision to approach the courts to seek for leave to appeal the decision of Leburu who ruled that the case was not urgent,” Motshegwa said.