The Commissioner of Labour appointed mediator has found the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) membership in the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) invalid. The decision came after mediation in an application to the Commissioner in which the Trainers and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) queried the legality of the BOFEPUSU's application and subsequent admission to the council. TAWU is an affiliate of the Botswana Federation of Trade Union (BFTU), a rival of BOFEPUSU.
In an advisory judgement delivered yesterday, the mediator in the dispute Sam Leero said BOFEPUSU membership of the council was flawed, hence it should be derecognised. TAWU argued that when the five unions under BOFEPUSU applied to the council under the federation, they were not applying individually. When the federation was subsequently admitted to the council, the unions had not been admitted separately. TAWU sought to have the BOFEPUSU application declared null and void and hence the removal of the five unions, individually, from the council. TAWU argued that it is the registered union - BOFEPUSU - and not the five recognised trade unions which were admitted into the council. "TAWU concludes its argument by stating that the application for admission to the PSBC was not even in the spirit of...the constitution of the PSBC," stated the mediator.
