BEC shows BOSETU the middle finger, as bargaining for exam makers collapse
correspondent | Monday September 6, 2021 17:52
A frustrated BOSETU Secretary General Tobokani Rari says negotiations collapsed as BEC claimed they are not obliged to bargain with the trade Unions on the matter since the teachers are not employees of BEC, but casual labourers.
Rari says the current predicament results from the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE)’s decision during this year, to hand over the Coursework and Moderation remunerations to Botswana Examinations Council (BEC).
“This then means that the Teacher Trade Unions would have to negotiate for the 2021/2022 Coursework and Moderation rates with BEC; however, BOSETU the BEC negotiating teams have as of now reached a stalemate as the BEC is of the view that they are not bound by law to negotiate with teacher trade unions, but rather, could only consult them”.
According to Rari, the teacher trade unions on the other hand hold a strong view that they are entitled to negotiate for their members as they have done for the past eight years when Coursework and Moderation were under the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE), and that the relationship
between them and BEC could easily be regulated through a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) that would entrench the negotiation rights of the Unions.