BOFEPUSU ready to march on without BOPEU
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday January 15, 2016 15:32
The 2016/17 wage negotiations between the public sector employer and the trade unions will commence on Monday. The Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) is set to convene and commence negotiations in the absence of BOPEU, after the latter allegedly declined to submit a list of their membership to the PSBC for verification.
BOFEPUSU will represent four unions at the bargaining council, Botswana Land Boards, Local Authorities & Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU), Botswana Sectors of Educators Union (BOSETU), Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) and the National Amalgamated Local Central Government and Parastatal Workers Union (NALCGPWU).
In an interview with Mmegi, BOFEPUSU vice general secretary Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said that they would commence negotiations on Monday, probably without BOPEU. He said that they have complied with the court order and submitted the list of their membership to the PSBC for verification. Motshegwa indicated that they wrote to BOPEU to submit their membership list to the PSBC for verification but the latter did not do so; something he said indicated BOPEU’s intention to terminate the acting jointly agreement it has with other unions affiliated to BOFEPUSU for the bargaining council.
“We can’t focus on BOPEU,” he said. “We are moving ahead and entering negotiations on the 18th (This Saturday). It’s a historical issue because it’s clear they don’t want to be part of the bigger picture so we can’t force them because otherwise it will derail our journey of fighting for workers rights.”
“They have not written to us saying they are pulling out of the joint agreement but their actions indicate that they want to pull out,” he said. “We have written to them inviting them to be party to the case we had last week and to submit their list as per court order, but they have stayed away on both occasions.”
Motshegwa said BOFEPUSU membership was over the two-third threshold needed for them to represent workers at the bargaining council.
Meanwhile, BOPEU general secretary Topias Marenga has dismissed remarks that they are trying to go out of the joint agreement they have with other unions. He said that the joint agreement was nullified by the settlement agreement order that included only four unions.
“We were never invited when they were going to court that’s why we were not cited in the case,” he said. “And the settlement agreement cancelled the acting jointly agreement that we had with them because we were not cited in the case. Even when they submitted the list, they couldn’t invite us.”
He stated that they have now applied to the PSBC and submitted their audited list of membership together with three other unions: Botswana Nurses Union (BONU), Botswana Government Workers Union (BOGOWU) and Trade and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) under Botlhe Bargaining Forum and are awaiting response by Friday. He also said that they are worried by BOFEPUSU’s actions of leaving other unions, which are recognised by the employer out while they preach consolidation of the working class.
Although Marenga said they were not invited to submit their list of membership following the court order, Mmegi is in possession of a letter dated January 5, 2016 authored by BOFEPUSU Secretary general to BOPEU inviting them to submit their audited list of membership.