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GOVT WRITES TO US ON AMENDMENTS TO IR ACT

29/11/2014 04:12:00 BY SIFISO SIBANDZE

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MBABANE – In an effort to regain access to the duty-free market provided by the US through AGOA, government has written to the US Government informing it on the amendments made by the country in the Industrial Relations Act.

This was announced by Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Gideon Dlamini. The Mkhiweni Constituency Member of Parliament was responding to a question posed by the Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce (FSE&CC) President Sandile Simelane.
Simelane wanted to know what government was doing to make sure the country regains its AGOA status. In response, the minister said:

“Government is doing everything possible to meet the benchmarks set out by the US. Our major stride as government is the amendment of the Industrial Relations Act and we have since written to the US government notifying it about this development, so that they may have a review of what we have done so far.”

The minister succinctly stated that government was committed to meet the benchmarks set by the US but was quick to say they are not aware what will happen as they (government) have no control over the matter.
“We are doing everything possible, but we have no control over attaining AGOA or not.”

Swaziland was deregistered as a beneficiary from AGOA early this year. This was after the US raised concerns over the Government of Swaziland’s lack of measurable progress on workers’ rights issues, particularly protection of freedom of association and the right to organise, its use of security forces and arbitrary arrests to intimidate peaceful demonstrations, and the lack of legal recognition for union federations.
The American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) called for the deregistration of Swaziland because government interferes with workers’ rights.

Following the registration, government has been reported to be trying to meet the benchmarks through a number of ways including the amendment of the Industrial Relations Act, which compelled government to deregister all employer and employee federations as the Act did not provide for the registration of federations.

Providing for the registration of federations is one of the five Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) benchmarks that government failed to meet thus, the kingdom was removed from the list of countries eligible for the duty-free trade agreement with the United States of America.

At one point before the AGOA deadline of May 15, 2014, the minister tabled the Industrial Relations Amendment Bill of 2014 whose purpose was to provide for the registration of federations and other incidental matters but the proposed legislation was later withdrawn because it reportedly did not meet the criteria.