BNF supports UB strikers

| Friday September 17, 2010 00:00

We understand that the University Trade Unions have been negotiating with the UB management for over ninw months, which is rather too long.

We are informed further  of the management's intransigent behaviour in dealing with the matter of salary adjustments which has caused the Lecturers to go on an industrial action at UB in terms of the Trade Dispute Act. It is further alleged that this is happening at a time when the management intends to award itself hefty salary increases.

This is disturbing because currently students are being left out and suffer in the end due to this dispute. We call upon the management to negotiate in good faith and to compromise by acceding to the workers' demands which we believe are legitimate.

On another note we wish to call upon the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to intervene and ensure that Botswana Examination Council negotiates with Teachers' Unions in good faith and ensure that teachers are rewarded for marking and invigilating exams.

We wish to state that it is unacceptable to engage inexperienced invigilators and markers for this year's examinations as this will compromise efficiency and quality of work.

In another disturbing development, we hear that there is a looming industrial action by public service unions as a result of government failure to implement the Public Service Act which was approved by Parliament in 2008 and only effected in May 2010.

We are shocked to learn that to date Government and unions are still at logger heads on the agreement of the constitution of the Bargaining Council which we hope will be inclusive.

The BNF wishes to call upon the government to expedite the conclusion of the Bargaining Council so that unions can start the process of negotiating with government on improving conditions of service for public servants which has been stagnant for a long time.

We are in solidarity with workers who are correctly demanding their rights and call upon the BDP government to take heed of workers' demands.

Moeti MohwasaInformation and Publicity Secretary