Abstract
Collective bargaining promotes employee participation and addresses irregularities that exist in
the workplace. A well-functioning collective bargaining system provides an atmosphere in which
workers can influence decision making. Botswana has received international accolades for its
economic gains; yet the welfare of its workers remains wanting. The public employer has not yet
fully accepted and embraced joint regulations and bipartite regulations of employment; this is
demonstrated by unilateral decision-making tendencies by the government as the employer. The
current study emphasises the centrality of placing workers at the heart of industrial relations
through their representatives. Hence, the goals of the investigation were to determine the context
and extent of collective bargaining coverage in Botswana. Furthermore, the present investigation
sort to determine the degree to which the Public Sector Bargaining Council’s (PSBC’s) is effective
and the extent to which the legislative framework ensures that employers and trade unions have
equal power. Lastly, the study sought to recommend strategies to make collective bargaining
attractive in Botswana. To realise the set goal, the study used a qualitative phenomenological
research design. The research was conducted in Botswana’s public sector, using a sample size of
fifteen (15) participants that was purposively selected. Research participants were interviewed face
to face and content analysis were used in conjunction with thematic analysis for data analysis,
whereupon six (6) significant themes emerged.
The theoretical framework for the present study was primarily premised on the four approaches to
the study of industrial relations, namely unitary, pluralistic, Marxist, as well as corporatism. The
study showed that Botswana's collective bargaining has features of all the approaches of industrial
relations. The outcome of the current study indicated that the social environment has provided an
enabling ground for collective bargaining to blossom. However, despite this, it is evident that the
passive and submissive culture has proven not to work with collective bargaining as it exacerbates
management's prerogative. The current study also established that Botswana has a unitary public
service, which includes a centralised bargaining system with national and industry agreements
serving as the primary means of governing employment terms and conditions. Collective
bargaining is still at an embryonic stage in Botswana, hence the capacity constraints for both
parties. The current study showed that the employer is struggling to accept the paradigm shift from
unitarism to pluralism. This is demonstrated by several government unilateral decision-making
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tendencies, which, along with other factors, have caused the collapse of the country’s bargaining
council.
On a good note, the research found that Botswana has a high coverage rate of 75%, attributed to
several institutional changes that the government made. The study found that even though all
public service employees have bargaining rights, the scope for the current bargaining unit
comprises the D1 salary scale and below. The present study’s findings revealed that workers on
the E and F salary scales are not part of the bargaining unit because they are classified as
management. In addition, the study established that there is a default erga omnes effect of public
service collective bargaining agreements. Some bargaining agreements are extended to workers
outside of the bargaining unit, and even outside of the public service to include workers such as
the disciplined forces and parastatals, which the government owns wholly. Relatedly, the current
study established that Botswana is a hybrid of adjusted and unadjusted collective bargaining
coverage rates.
The results of the current showed that owing to a lack of bargaining councils in the public sector,
bargaining coordination has been a challenge. Currently, Botswana’s public sector does not have
a bargaining council. The results of this study showed that the legislation supports collective
bargaining, with just a few blind spots in the existing legislation. The study established that
Botswana's public service does not have an independent dispute resolution mechanism. There is a
critical requirement for bargaining parties to institute bargaining councils and an autonomous
dispute resolution mechanism. The current study calls for a collaborative system, where the parties
must treat each other as partners for joint decision making. Collective bargaining has proved to be
a veritable means of joint decision making; hence, parties should commit in the latter, both literally
and in spirit.
Keywords: Collective bargaining, extension mechanism, collective bargaining coverage, public
sector, public service, bargaining council, trade union.