They demanded non-implementation of No Work No Pay policy and unconditional reinstatement of all dismissed workers to be part of the negotiation package to end the nationwide public officers' strike. The meeting was initiated by the DPSM after the closure of all public schools followed by private schools. According to the DPSM director Festina Bakwena, the main objective of the meeting, which was adjourned to 3pm today, is intended to reach an agreement with the unions to end the 30-day strike.
"We adjourned the meeting to give ourselves an opportunity to look at the new issues that they came with," Bakwena said but would not be drawn into discussing the details. However, the publicity secretary of the unions making up the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) Goretetse Kekgonegile, said the 3 percent offer was too little to accept. "We rejected the offer and demanded that the issue of non-implementation of 'No Work No Pay and unconditional reinstatement of the essential service employees who have been dismissed be part of the parkage of negotiations," Kekgonegile said adding that the meeting was adjourned to today. He said they welcomed the marching out of hospitals by nurses and specialists in different hospitals around the country who were at work in solidarity with their dismissed colleagues.
