TUCOSWA PLANS COUNTRYWIDE SEPTEMBER STRIKE

(L-R Front) PUDEMO Secretary General Mlungisi Makhanya, Human Rights lawyers Sibusiso Nhlabatsi and Thulani Maseko were among the invited guests.

MATSAPHA – The country is likely to come to a standstill in September as the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) is planning to shut down all operations of the country in demand of full enjoyment of workers’ rights.

Vincent Ncongwane, the trade union’s Secretary General, said workers in the country have challenges when it comes to enjoying full workers rights.

The secretary general made an example that some workers were being denied the right to severance allowance. He said long serving workers used to have a right to enjoy severance allowance but that had recently changed.

“We have to demand full access to workers’ rights in the country and the only way we can do so is to close all our workplaces, meaning we shut down all operations of the country during the next protest action, which will probably be during this year’s Global Week of Action (September).
“We have to make sure no one goes to work during that week. Swaziland Transport and Allied Workers Union (STAWU) should make sure that public transport does not operate, so that those workers who defy our call to close our workplaces, cannot find transport to work,” Ncongwane said.

He said severance pay was to be enjoyed by long serving workers and it should not be attached to any negotiations because it should be what the employer deserves.
The secretary general said most workers in the country did not have a pension fund and when they retired they depended on the Swaziland National Provident Fund.

“TUCOSWA should make sure that severance allowance is a right to workers so that those who do not have pension can have something after retirement and retrenchment,” the secretary general said.

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