DPSM smokes peace pipe with secretarie

Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday December 7, 2016 15:06

Recently, following a prolonged legal tussle between the pair over what the secretaries called policy changes without consultation, the employer enticed the employees with the idea of exploring settlement to rest the matter.

The secretaries through their lawyer had applied for final judgement against their employer following the government’s refusal to suspend the scheme until further consultation was done.

DPSM lawyer Julia Mokoti told the court that they have proposed and drafted a settlement agreement to settle the matter.

She explained that as it stood, they did not file any papers as per court procedure because they wanted not to continue with the matter further as they were hopeful that settlement was possible.

“We are still within time to file our papers, but as of now we are hoping that the matter will not go further since there is a settlement proposal, which the employees are not opposed to,” she said.

The secretaries, through their attorney, confirmed that they are open for any settlement talks, but maintained that the employer should follow court process and file their documents in case the talks collapse and they are back at court.

Judge Singh Walia gave the pair time to explore the option of settling the matter and set the case for next year for status hearing.

At the heart of the litigation is that the secretaries have been up in arms with their employer seeking the review of the Competency Based Career Path (CBCP) among many other issues.

They wanted a judicial review on the status of their employment.

Their main contention was that the scheme was introduced without consultation and that it was a breach of the existing conditions of service.

They wanted judicial review on grounds that the CBCP was applied inconsistently and arbitrarily in that it favoured the minority, and it was applied retroactively to existing employees without any negotiations with trade unions.

They are dissatisfied with the new scheme of regime, the CBCP, that was implemented through various directives.