TAWU, BOGOWU win round one against DPSM

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Tuesday September 28, 2010 00:00

 

In a hearing held on Friday, Sam Leero, a part-time mediator/arbitrator, ruled that the registration of the PSBC constitution be suspended, thus saving the two unions from being excluded from the bargaining process.

Last Monday, five unions and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) reached an agreement and signed the final amended PSBC constitution. But TAWU and BOGOWU, the only remaining affiliates of Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) in the public service registered a dispute at the Commissioner of Labour's office over the constitution. The other  matters in the dispute were employers' representatives who hold trade union membership; favouritism; and exclusion of TAWU and BOGOWU from the completion and signing of the PSBC constitution.

Leero ruled that the matter of employers' representatives who belong to one or more unions should be withdrawn from the dispute pending the response from DPSM. The matter may be re-tabled if necessary.

The two unions and the government have agreed to go back and attempt to resolve the deadlock on the PSBC constitution and favouritism and exclusion. At the arbitration, TAWU and BOGOWU argued that the latest version of the PSBC constitution, which was jointly drafted by the DPSM and five unions makes several references to a threshold that is not specified, whereas Section 46 of the Public Service Act confers the right to bargain on recognised trade unions automatically.

TAWU and BOGOWU view voting as fundamentally inimical to the collective bargaining process in that it is coercive and compulsive in nature whereas bargaining is free, voluntary and persuasive and the parties should be free to agree. The unions stated that the constitution mixed-up bargaining and governance matters of the council.

Therefore they prayed that the adoption and registration of the constitution be held in abeyance until the differences are resolved.

DPSM conceded that there are disagreements with TAWU and BOGOWU regarding interpretation of the constitution. It said such disagreements were matters of clarifications only and consequently the matter has not been properly brought before the commissioner. Even though DPSM had moved for adoption of the constitution, it viewed such differences as subject to resolution by the parties.

Therefore DPSM as the respondent proposed that the parties should be allowed to go back and attempt to resolve the issues voluntarily.

On employers' representatives who are members of unions, TAWU and BOGOWU referred to a letter written to DPSM on September 8, 2010. The letter requested that the representatives who hold membership should declare and recuse themselves from collective consultation and bargaining. The two unions argued that since no such declaration has ever been made, the employer had not verified that members of management were not members of any of the trade unions.  DPSM acknowledged receipt of the letter and that a response has been prepared for signing which should be ready next week. DPSM stated that no representatives of the employer hold trade union membership. DPSM accepted that such declaration be made in every meeting.

On favouritism and exclusion TAWU and BOGOWU explained that they suffer discrimination by being sidelined and excluded from processes pertaining to the establishment of the bargaining council and that the employer favours the other five unions. They gave the following examples:

*Employer excluded BOGOWU from most processes pertaining to the establishment of the bargaining council even though it is a recognised union.

*The employer conveniently used the interim secretariat to draft the bargaining council constitution exclusively with the other five unions, outside the mandate of the secretariat and without the input of TAWU and BOGOWU.

*The employer, through several instances, has gone on national radio and television to discuss the bargaining council and to castigate the positions of TAWU and BOGOWU.

*There has been inequitable access to the employer in that the employer held side meetings with the other five unions and thereafter regards decisions made in such exclusive meetings as binding on all the parties. TAWU and BOGOWU made reference to the meeting held on Saturday 18, September.

*Although TAWU and BOGOWU have made three written submissions, upon request by the joint meeting on all parties to state their positions regarding the constitution of the bargaining council, the employer has not facilitated discussion or incorporated the views of TAWU and BOGOWU into the constitution. The employer's view is that such views have been disregarded because they are not acceptable to the employer. On the other hand, the employer has caused a discussion of the one submission of the other five unions in a meeting and even distributed such submission to all parties.

*Employer proposed for the adoption of the constitution of the council immediately following agreement on all points with the other five unions. Employer did not do so in earlier versions of the constitution. In response, the DPSM stated that the matter is new to them and that it has not been brought before the reference group. The mediator questioned whether the parties have sat down to address the issue of exclusion. Both parties agreed that they have not directly attempted to resolve the matter. TAWU and BOGOWU were represented by Allan Keitseng, Kaboda Phillip, Edward Tswaipe, Keforege Baratedi, Setso Ntsuke, Basima Basima and Bashi Timela.Ojang Tsheko, Willard Ulaula and Gloria Bowelo appeared for the DPSM.