“The parties shall endeavour to agree on who the arbitrator will be on or before 9 March 2015, failing which the chairman of the Law Society will be approached to appoint an arbitrator therefore, and the chairman’s decision to appoint will be final,” reads Justice Harold Rahukya of the Industrial Court’s consent order delivered on February 9. The arbitrator shall determine whether the issue of transfers of the employees from the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) Department to other departments of the university is a negotiable matter. The arbitrator shall also determine if the transfer issue is a negotiable matter, whether it was preceded by negotiations and whether it is a consultative matter.
The matter was also withdrawn. Attorneys Tshiamo Rantao represented UBASSSU while Boipelo Matenge appeared for Totolo and UB. This consent order followed the ruling by Industrial Court’s Justice Isaac Bahuma on August 22, 2014, that the UB management and UBASSSU should negotiate issues of transfer of 12 CCE lecturers. The UBASSSU had alleged that Totolo effected the transfers without consulting. The UBASSSU and CCE lecturers had dragged Totolo and the UB to court as a matter of urgency to review and set aside the transfer of lecturers to other faculties within the institution.
