TAWU, BOGOWU call for transparency in draft pay policy
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday August 16, 2019 14:58
In their joint input document to the Draft Botswana Public Service Remuneration Policy of 2019, the trade unions have raised concern relating to the exclusion of the disciplined forces namely the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana Police Service (BPS), the Prison Services and the Directorate of Intelligence and Security from the proposed remuneration policy.
According to the document signed by Setso Elias Ntsuke, who is the designated Trade Union Party Technical Advisor, the two unions view this as a deviation from the norm of unitary pay structure and a reversal to the pre-1988 era of multiple pay authorities and pay points.
They argue that there is no risk in being transparent with the salaries of disciplined forces except for revealing details.
“What risk does transparency in their salaries pose, necessitating exclusion from a unitary pay policy? It is the details that may pose a risk, not policy,” read the document in part.
They argue that while it may appear that the employer intends to provide special dispensation for such excluded employees, the reality may well be adverse. This, they said, could subject lower ranked employees to horrible conditions such as pay or band stagnation with no skills and alternative career choices.
Their view is that the principle of transparency should include information on allowances and other implied benefits of senior management since these are made out of public funds and that it should be extended holistically to all public service pay and public sector remuneration.
“There should be transparency with regard to remuneration of the disciplined forces to the extent that this poses no national security risk since the pay policy has nothing to do with bargaining rights. The remuneration policy should be clear about which cadres are being deliberately excluded and the rationale for delinkages,” stated the two unions in their recommendations.
Meanwhile, the unions have jointly recommended that government be reliant on Job Evaluation to design the right pay structure rather than on allowances for attraction and retention and consider clean pay as the guiding pay principle to reduce disciplinary allowances.
TAWU and BOGOWU further want the policy to indicate the relationship between the review process and the normal wage bargaining process, suggesting that the policy should include a heading that differentiates the two processes and shows their convergence.
They also suggest that the Parastatal pay should be integrated into the broader Public Sector remuneration strategy with a creation of broader bargaining council including a Parastatal chamber.
As a way forward, the two unions said they envisage further consultation to finalise the Remuneration Policy where the employer should clarify the issue of disciplined forces and its relationship with the policy.
They also want the policy to be processed through Cabinet or Parliament and the parties to commence consultations regarding a job evaluation exercise as soon as possible to pave way for a new salary structure and performance management system.