Air Botswana to appeal against ruling

The appeal by AB comes after a part time arbitrator of the Department of Labour, Themba Lebang ruled in the drivers' favour in August 2010. In the dispute the drivers demanded payment for accrued overtime as agreed in 2006 and wished to have an increase in night shift allowance from P184 per night to P477.

Regarding the drivers' demand for an increase in the night allowance from the increase to P477, he had not found any convincing evidence that their night allowance of P184 had overstayed or was never adequate in any way. He said while there was evidence that several similar allowances were reviewed once or twice, it was not clear from the drivers that there was any correlation among the allowances. "First the purpose of each allowance is different and the reasons for increasing one allowance may not necessarily be the same," he said.