Building foundations for effective social dialogue in Lesotho’s Public Service

Maseru, Lesotho, ILO News - The employer and trade unions parties in the public service of the Kingdom of Lesotho have taken a step to develop their capacity in collective bargaining in preparation for the establishment of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). With the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a three-day Workshop on Negotiations Skills for Effective Collective Bargaining was held in Maseru on 24 – 26 November 2025, which brought together senior government officials (Chief of Staff from the Office of the Prime Minister and Directors and Human Resources Managers from the Ministries of the Public Service; Finance and Development Planning; Labour and Employment; Education; Health; Local Government and Chieftainship Affairs; and the Judiciary) and public service associations from the general public service, health, judiciary, police, and education.

The Workshop was part of several capacity building initiatives supported by the ILO following the country’s ratification of Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No.151) and on-going national efforts to reform and strengthen labour relations in the public service.

The objective of the workshop was to develop the capacity of participants to have a better understanding, skills, and knowledge of modern theory and best negotiation practice, negotiation process and how to prepare for negotiations, conflict management, and behaviors of effective negotiators.

Organized by the Ministry of Public Service, the Workshop aimed to prepare bipartite partners in the public service to be effective negotiators and strive to achieve mutual gains during negotiations in the PSCBC as opposed to using adversarial and positional bargaining approaches.

When delivering opening remarks on behalf of the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service (the Ministry), Mrs. Puleng Letsoela, Director, Employee Relations in the Ministry

Commended the bipartite partners on their collaboration in the implementation of measures aimed at the institutionalization of social dialogue in the public service.

In particular, she expressed appreciation at the steps taken towards the establishment of the PSCBC, and encouraged participants to use the knowledge they would acquire from the Workshop to sharpen their negotiation skills to improve labour relations and management conflicts at the workplace.

Speaking on behalf of trade unions parties, Mr. Thabiso Rapitse, Deputy General Secretary, Lesotho Public Employees Trade Union, acknowledged the support from the ILO in developing the capacity of the bipartite partners. He emphasized the importance of having the requisite skills so that negotiations are conducted from the standpoint of knowledge in order to promote understanding in the public service. He indicated that, as representatives of trade unions in the public service, they were prepared to cooperate with the Ministry of the Public Service and support the efforts which are intended to improve service delivery and relations in the service.