Government recently took Botswana Doctors Union to court to try stop what it terms a strike by doctors doing only 24 hours emergency call per month. Now, nurses and midwives through Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) have reported Government to the Department of Labour. The union through secretary-general, Lebogang Phillip has written to its members informing them of a dispute lodged regarding compensation for excess hours worked between April 2022 and August 2024 and standby allowance for on-call nurses. According to Phillip, BONU has, for an extended period, sought to engage both the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) regarding the compensation for excess hours worked and the payment of standby allowances to Nurses and Midwives on call. Unfortunately, their efforts have not yielded any positive outcomes, said Philip.
As a result, he said BONU has formally lodged a dispute with the Regional Labour Office in a matter that has been scheduled for hearing on 20th May 2025. “In the meantime, all nurses and midwives are encouraged to continue documenting any overtime worked and to submit these records to their respective Human Resources offices and ensure that they keep their own copies,” he stated. Philip also said it is unfortunate that the Employer has resorted to change legislation in an effort to subject Nurses and Midwives to slavery and resort to litigation despite the constant advice from the President of the country not to litigate on matters where the employer is wrong. BONU has also accused the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), the Ministry of Health, and the District Health Management Team (DHMT) for their involvement in the matter Earlier in January 2025, BONU accused DPSM, MoH and the DHMT of adopting an approach that exploits nurses and midwives. The union said the said health workers have been subjected to prolonged working hours without compensation against the Employment Act and international labour best practices. To that end, BONU then resolved that it is in the best interest of its members to adopt strict adherence to the judgment of the Court of Appeal (CoA) on the ‘Call to Duty’ policy until such a time that the ministry agrees to negotiate on the development of a framework and guidelines and to compensate the members accordingly. DPSM had in late 2023 partly succeeded in its pursuit to quash an Industrial Court order that would spell the discontinuation of the ‘Call to Duty’ for nurses or pay overtime as per a prior Industrial Court judgment by Justice Galesite Baruti.
