Times Of Swaziland: ‘Don’t deal with TUCOSWA’

‘Don’t deal with TUCOSWA’
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 BY TIMOTHY SIMELANE on 10/06/2013 04:33:00


MBABANE - TUCOSWA has been dealt with another devastating blow as parastatals
have been sensitised to take the hard line on all unions that affiliate to
‘unregistered clusters’.
TUCOSWA is the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland. Prime Minister Sibusiso
Barnabas Dlamini, when addressing heads of government parastatals, said
management must only work with clusters that are recognised by law.
The meeting, held on May 22, was purportedly the last consultative meeting that
the PM will hold with heads of parastatals in the current term of office.
Minutes of the meeting state that the PM urged parastatal heads “to recognise
labour unions that are recognised by and working within the Swazi legal system.
The PM urges PEs to be cautious of the clusters that then tend to develop within
the labour unions and cautions PEs not to recognise or not to deal with the
illegal clusters.” When a question was posed to the PM on what he meant by
clusters, he is alleged to have used the word inhlanganisela (coming together)
to describe them, without mentioning the word TUCOSWA.
However, it is common knowledge that recently, government took TUCOSWA to court
to determine the legality of its registration. The Industrial Court ruled that
TUCOSWA was wrongly registered as there was no law supporting the formation of
federations.
A labour consultant said if government says parastatals must not recognise
unions affiliating to TUCOSWA, the implication is that employers may no longer
facilitate the deduction of subscription fees from union members to TUCOSWA.
“This also puts to jeopardy the recognition agreements that exist between the
unions and the employers,” said the consultant who did not want to be
revealed.
TUCOSWA has been struggling to hold May Day celebrations for the past two years
after government said the federation was illegal.
This year, leaders of TUCOSWA were placed under house arrest, while last year
TUCOSWA banners were confiscated by armed police officers with some TUCOSWA
chiefs being detained at the police headquarters.
Govt recognises TUCOSWA but ...
MBABANE – Labour Commissioner Khabo Dlamini said there was light at the end of
the tunnel as her ministry had drafted a Memorandum of Understanding with
TUCOSWA.
“Government recognises that TUCOSWA exists according to its constitution but
was found not to be properly registered in law. We have a general notice on how
we will be working with TUCOSWA, which is registered in terms of its own
constitution.
“According to the agreement we have with them, we will continue working with
TUCOSWA until the Industrial Relations Act has been amended in Parliament.
Dlamini said until the Act is amended all federations in the country are not
properly registered.
Among these, she said, were the Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of
Commerce which was registered as a company and the Federation of the Swaziland
Business Community.
TUCOSWA not pleased
MBABANE – TUCOSWA Secretary General Vincent Ncongwane said he was not
surprised by the development.
“TUCOSWA is moving from crisis to crisis. If government wants employers not to
recognise unions that affiliate with TUCOSWA why don’t they start with the
public sector unions? Let them do that and the international community will see
them for who they are.”
Ncongwane said workers also reserved the right to a protest action if a push
comes to a shove.
He said if the move goes ahead, unionists who will attend the ILO Convention in
Geneva would be sensitised to condemn government’s behaviour. The Industrial
Court ruled that since the country does not have a law on the registration of
federa-tions, TUCOSWA was, there-fore, wrongly registered. Following the
pronouncement of the Industrial Court, government has since engaged TUCOSWA in
talks for a solution to the federation’s crisis.