Govt/Unions clash over fixed allowance

Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) and government are headed for a showdown over the latter’s covert plan to sneak in an allowance adjustment for civil servants past the Bargaining Council beginning next year April.

A secret memo seen by this newspaper shows that government is planning to introduce a percentage of a basic salary as overtime for non-commuted public service employees. Non-commuted employees are all government employees except soldiers, police officers and wildlife officers among others. The overtime allowance, which varies according to salary scales, will take effect on 1st April 2015. Among others the adjustment introduces 5 percent overtime allowance for non-commuted employees on C3 Grade and above. The new allowance also includes Executive Cadre. 10 percent overtime is introduced for employees on C4 salary scale and below.

The memo states that an undertaking form will be introduced for payment of 5 percent or 10 percent of basic salary adjustment. Those who do not sign the form should be paid overtime not exceeding 5 percent or 10 percent, said the memo. The permanent secretary to the President will have the prerogative to authorise any overtime exceeding 5 percent of the basic salary. While a top economist at one of the leading local private wealth management firms has dismissed the proposed adjustment as ‘political’ and unsustainable, as it   adversely impacts on the public service wage bill, the Unions say it will in-fact do the reverse. “If government is confident that the economy has improved why does she not implement the adjustment now instead of next year? This is all political,” said the economist who for fear of reprisals didn’t want to be named. However trade unions are furious with government’s decision to introduce a 5 percent increase of basic salary, saying this is a rip-off as employees will work for longer hours and get paid less. BOFEPUSU secretary general Tabokani Rari told this publication that by introducing the allowance government is in fact working on reducing the wage bill.

“This will be slavery on our part because we will be working for long hours and being paid less. This allowance is dangerous,” said Rari. Currently non-commuted employees are paid overtime allowance based on the hours worked hence unions feel the fixed allowance is a rip-off. Besides the overtime allowance, government will also introduce a housing allowance of 1 percent of basic salary for the executive cadre and a P200 monthly for Grade D1 and below effective 1st April 2014. The memo states that the acting minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration ‘should bring back this item for final decision in three (3) months’ time to allow members to think through the proposal as well as allow time for negotiations with the Bargaining Council’. If government goes ahead and implements the allowance adjustment in its current form, the move will further raise the wage bill, which according to Directorate of Public Service Management boss Carter Morupisi currently hovers between P17billion and P18billion.

“This (wage bill) is too high,” admitted Morupisi. As far as 2012, the IMF suggested that Botswana cut its “bloated” wage bill, which by extension meant downsizing the civil service. In the same year, government also announced that it would direct all ministries to cut wage bill by 5 percent in the next three years. The three years will end next year. The measure also included freezing new posts. Ahead of election on October 24, insiders say government has backed out of its earlier intention to cut workers. “This is not a call government can take in an election year,” said the economist referring to the earlier plan to ‘right size’ staff by government. Speaking to Botswana Guardian about the proposed wage adjustment by government Head of Research at Motswedi Securies, said post recession the economy has grown reasonably, and that government could afford to consider wage adjustment for public officers. “However, the economy has not grown to levels we have desired,” said Garry Juma.

In February, outgoing Finance and Development Planning minister Kenneth Matambo forecast that the economy would grow by 5,1 percent this year, but various economic think tanks slashed the growth citing subdued performance by the mining sector-the main cog of the national economy. Fresh Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data released by Statistics Botswana for second quarter shows that the economy grew by 4, 5 percent during the period. However, this is low relative to the previous year. “It is always best to measure the economy on yearly basis rather than quarterly basis,” said the economist. “The economy is still struggling,” added the analyst. With the economy growing slower than anticipated, the move by government has inspired questions on where the money will come from since government has always maintained that any adjustment would be determined by the recovery or sustained growth of the economy.

When contacted for comment, Matambo replied: “Go and ask the minister responsible for civil servants to know if indeed he wants to increase salaries and come back to me.” Botswana Guardian had wanted to know if the proposed salary adjustment would not increase the wage bill as well as whether funds are immediately available to enable a wage adjustment. Public sector unions are currently awaiting official communication from Morupisi. According to the memo the implementation should be routed through the Bargaining Council. “We will submit a counter proposal,” said Rari adding that if government persists on implementing the fixed overtime allowance BOFEPUSU will seek court intervention. Last month government raised P427 million after issuing a T-bill to primary dealers (commercial banks). Acting Minister in the Presidency, Shaw Kgathi requested he be faxed the said memo before he could comment.