TUCOSWA, LAB AGREE ON 5 LABOUR ISSUES

BIG BEND - TUCOSWA and the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) have reached agreements on five labour issues, for which the congress is planning mass actions to push for their implementation.

To compel government to translate the issues into law, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) has declared September 2023 a month of action. This was revealed by TUCOSWA Secretary General (SG) Mduduzi Gina when addressing workers during the celebration of the 2023 International Workers Day, hosted at Mayaluka Sport Ground, Big Bend, in the Lubombo Region yesterday. He said in terms of legislative reforms, the federation had completed its negotiations and agreed with employers and the government at the LAB level on at least five labour issues, which were of concern to them.

Abolishment

One of the issue, which the SG named, was the abolishment of the use of replacement labour during a protected industrial action. He said they had agreed that government should pass a law that would prohibit employers from hiring casuals to replace workers who would be in an industrial action. He said they had also agreed that the process to convert Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) to a pension fund, should be sped up. He added that this would make workers who retire to get a lump sum and continue to get something on a monthly basis.
Gina said they also agreed that severance allowance should be paid at retirement and that fixed-term contracts on posts of permanent nature should be abolished. Another agreement which he highlighted was that of prohibition of labour brokers.

Bills

He said these items were among positive results achieved for the workers, which were now being stalled by bureaucracy in the county’s legislative process. He said the Bills bringing about these important changes to the lives of the workers were all in the Executive arm of government, awaiting being tabled in Parliament. In that regard, the unionist said as a federation, they declared September 2023 as a month of action to encourage the government, in particular Cabinet, to hastily submit these Bills to Parliament. He said soon, they would be announcing campaigns which would catalyse the finalisation of these Bills. These Bills include the Industrial Relations Bill and Employment Bill. However, he highlighted that they chose various dates within the month of September 2023 on which they would stage protest actions. For example, he said they might choose three days to demonstrate and demand the abolishing of labour brokers and select other dates for another item which they had agreed on.

Efforts of getting a comment from the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Makhosini Mndawe, proved futile as his mobile phone rang unanswered yesterday afternoon. A questionnaire was sent to him, but by the time of compiling this report, he had not responded to it. The main question to the PS was to ascertain if his office was aware of the agreements that the federation was talking about.

Meanwhile, Gina added that they were well aware that while they planned for the month of action, the country was faced with a political problem. He said alleged lack of political pluralism within the Tinkhundla System of Government had far reaching consequences for the workers and the general working class. He said the constitutional right of citizens to associate and assembly to advance their common interest had been curtailed unconstitutionally through the promulgation of an order by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Prince Simelane, which banned gatherings in towns and cities. The unionist said the country was in an undeclared state of emergency. He said according to their analysis, there was no rule of law in the country and legislators had been stripped of their parliamentary immunity.

He said since July 25, 2021, members of Parliament (MPs) Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza of Hosea and Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi, had been languishing in jail on alleged trumped up political charges. On the other hand, he said former Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane was in hiding, yet his sin and that of the two MPs was to propose and suggest a different governance structure. “They were making those calls inside Parliament and they were arrested. This political confusion manifests itself in many fronts. To us, workers, it results in the mushrooming of employer and alleged State funded unions and an increase of contract labour to weaken workers’ power through forced loyalty to employers,” Gina said.

Exploitation

He added that this created a fertile ground for exploitation by employers. He said workers were not allowed to gather and plan their responses under the guise that they would disturb public order and peace. As a result, he said any strike action was met with heavy force as it was seen as a threat to the powers that be. After that, he said this political problem needed all their hands to be resolved and the resolution could not be delayed any more. He said the calls for sanctions by trade and developmental partners could not be ignored. He said the sounds of such from legislative Houses in the European Union (EU) and United States of America (USA) could be ignored to the peril of the country. “When the country goes down, it will go with us,” Gina said. Also, the unionist said it was in the interest of the trade union movement that the political impasse should be resolved. He said the resolution should not be just for the sake of it. Instead, he said its resolution should have interest of the workers and the working class.

Resolution

“We must define the road, the character and final resolution of this problem using our own biasness. The lenses we should wear are those which will search for what the revolution would bring to the workers. Most importantly though, should be how the workers themselves contribute to the shaping of the democratisation project for it to embrace the interest of the workers,” the SG said. He added that their third quadrennial congress resolved that the working class philosophy should be their guiding principle and the federation and its affiliates should be constructed and defined within the norms of this philosophy. He said the constitution of the federation provided, as its objectives, that it should promote, encourage and assist in strengthening the democratic rights of workers. He said it also emphasised that, inasmuch as they might have any working or cooperation arrangement with any organisation, they should remain independent from either the government, political parties or employers.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: