By Staff Reporter
More than 200 teachers are up in arms against the Progressive Association of Lesotho Teachers (PALT) which they accuse of continuing to deduct monthly subscription fees long after they ceased being members of the union.
The teachers say the continued deductions are unfair and illegal as they expressly resigned from the PALT three years ago.
They claim that they wrote to the union way back in 2021 informing it that they were calling it quits but it has failed to take heed.
The teachers further accuse the organization of not attending to their demands for a pay hike when they went on a nationwide strike in 2019.
The grouping said they had assigned the Thamae Lesotho Evangelical Church of Southern Africa coordinator, ‘Mangubeni Dlamini, to mediate in their feud with PALT but nothing came out of it.
They say despite their pulling out, the trade movement is still deducting monthly membership fees from their monthly salaries. Each member pays M25 through a stop order.
Dlamini confirmed to theReporter during an interview that PALT is still deducting membership fees from the disgruntled teachers.
Dlamini described this action as unfair treatment by the “controversial teacher movement”.
“The association (PALT) is still deducting subscription fees from our monthly salaries although we have long resigned as its members,” she said.
She further noted that their efforts to stop the organisation from taking their money had fallen on deaf ears.
“How do you take someone’s money when you know she has withdrawn her membership from the organisation? The union is taking our money but we have explicitly said we are no more members,” she complained.
PALT is a breakaway teacher trade union movement from the Lesotho Association of Teachers (LAT). It was established in 2008 by some disgruntled members who were then at odds with LAT administration.
They claim that they notified PALT in a notice written in June 2021 of their decision to withdraw their membership.
In that notice, they urged that that month’s subscription served as the notice for the month of July that year. But PALT still obtained their subscription fees as shown in their monthly pay slips for August 2021.
In a desperate attempt, the group resolved to seek legal recourse and approached Advocate Letuka Molati’s Chambers to order PALT to stop its “unacceptable actions”.
At the time, Advocate Molati confirmed that the teachers’ representatives had consulted his office for legal assistance.
He said the law allows for freedom of association and it was up to the teachers to choose which trade union movement to align with.
Advocate Molati indicated that he was still awaiting further instructions to allow the kick start the litigation process.
Asked why they never went ahead with the legal route, Dlamini said, “We realised the matter was actually not requiring a lawyer’s services that is why we have abandoned it.”
Instead, the group has sought the intervention of the Teaching Service Department (TSD) and the registrar of the trade unions under the ministries of education and labour respectively.
“Now, the TSD is telling us it cannot deal with this matter as it involves a third party (PALT). We also went to the office of the registrar of trade unions,” noted Dlamini.
A reliable source at the TSD who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity fearing reprisal confirmed this week that the department’s authorities have not intervened in the dispute, confirming Dlamini’s claims.
Approached for comment on Wednesday this week, the labour department’s registrar of trade unions, Tšepang Lesia, said, “You have no business in this matter.”
Probed further, she asked why the writer was now seeking her comments.
In addition, the hostile officer asked that any questions be put in writing as she could not answer them verbally.
Responding to the saga, PALT chief executive officer Paul Sematlane said he was not aware of any members who claim to have pulled out of the association’s membership.
“We do not know who those people are who say they have resigned from our organisation. The fact of the matter is that our membership is vastly growing. Those who claim to have resigned from our trade union are not our members,” he argued.
“Our members know the procedure that they have to follow when they intend to leave. We are still deducting due monthly subscription fees from our members.”
Sematlane further argued that no one had come to the fore to resign as a member of the union.
He said such claims were intended to smear his trade union as it “enjoys a bigger membership”.
Also commenting on the disputed membership, PALT official and the Lesotho Labour Council president ‘Makamohelo Mokone, added: “As it stands no one has come forward to say she or he is no longer a member of PALT.”
According to the 2022/23 data from the office of the registrar of trade unions, PALT has a membership of 7 230. It is followed by other two unions; Lesotho Association of Teachers and the Lesotho Teachers Trade Union, with 5 655 and 3 990 members respectively.
