BOFEPUSU takes DPSM to court again

Innocent Selatlhwa | Friday January 22, 2016 15:25

 

BOFEPUSU had approached the court after the employer pulled out of negotiations citing the need for verification of BOFEPUSU membership figures, and whether they allow the union to bargain following the departure of Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) recently.

Central to the current dispute is that the employer will not continue with other items on the January 18 meeting agenda as ordered by the Industrial Court. On the other hand, BOFEPUSU believes both figures they submitted, and those from DPSM show that they have met the 1/3 threshold hence negotiations should continue.

According to the court order, BOFEPUSU was to submit their audited membership list to the PSBC by January 8, 2016. DPSM was to submit a list of employees covered by the PSBC. Three days later, the general secretary of the PSBC was to determine whether or not the applicants still have the threshold necessary for them to continue being admitted. The parties were to meet on January 18 to deliberate on amongst other things the outcome of the verification process carried out by the PSBC and the rules of engagement in respect of the 2016/2017 wage negotiations.

According to BOFEPUSU secretary for labour, Johnson Motshwarakgole’s founding affidavit, BOFEPUSU submitted membership figures and lists with a membership of 76,984. DPSM indicated that 108,963 public officers were eligible to unionise of which 74,571 are BOFEPUSU members. Motshwarakgole states that the difference in number is probably attributed to the fact that some public officers hold dual membership of BOFEPUSU unions.

“What cannot be attributed is that on the 1st respondent’s own version, the applicants have more than 2/3 of public officers, on their version the applicants exceed the threshold required for continued admission to the PSBC by more than 100%,” he said.

Motshwarakgole added that this clearly shows that the DPSM motive in engaging in this exercise of checking numbers is not bona fide, and that there is no doubt that the applicants are entitled to continue taking part in the PSBC proceedings.

Motshwarakgole further states that at a meeting on January 18, the secretariat indicated that it was still in the process of verifying the numbers of BOFEPUSU membership with 33,882 having already been verified while 41,608 members were yet to be confirmed. He said DPSM sought to take advantage of this, arguing that other items on the agenda could not be discussed until the verification was complete.

“DPSM’s conduct is deliberately calculated to frustrate commencement of the 2016/2017 wage negotiations. In our respectful view, the purpose of the exercise of checking membership has been fulfilled,” he said.

BOFEPUSU argues that the current dispute has a bearing on its right to bargain collectively on behalf of public officers covered by the council. “The right is being undermined by the dispute that exists as regards the interpretation of the Order of 18 January 2016,” Motshwarakgole wrote.

BOFEPUSU is represented by Mboki Chilisa while the employer is expected to be represented by Tefo Bogosi who represented them at the Industrial Court.