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FEDERATIONS NOT BANNED – WINNIE

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MBABANE – Winnie Magagula, Minister of Labour and Social Security, says federations are not banned in the country.
She said federations were free to operate in the country.


However, she said even though they were free, they remained illegal in as far as the Industrial Relations Act of 2000 (as amended) was concerned.
She said it was under this basis that her ministry issued a statement to the effect that federations were non-existent in terms of the Act and should stop operating immediately until the Bill that seeks to amend the law that recognises them was passed by Parliament.


“We did not ban anyone, we only issued a statement that stopped them from partaking in our activities, where they would sit and engage government on a number of issues touching on the general welfare of workers. The federations are unlawful and do not exist according to the Act, however, they do exist outside the legislation,” said the minister.
She clarified government’s position with regard to the existence of federations, a stance that was published in a statement on Wednesday. The statement drew local and international condemnation with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) expressing shock. 


Other commentators opined that the Cabinet decision was in breach of workers’ rights. Further they said the statement was illegal in that no law was quoted to support it.
Minister Magagula said the essence of the statement was that the federations were unlawful but they only existed in terms of their own organisational constitutions.
She said government would, therefore, not engage them in any forum or discussions in as far as issues that pertained to the rights and welfare of Swazi workers.
Federations, according to the minister, would remain non-operational until Parliament passed the amendments that provide for the existence and recognition of the federations in law as stated in the Industrial Relations Act (2000) as amended.


The federations include the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce (FSE&CC), Federation of the Swazi Business Community (FESBC) and the Amalgamated Trade Unions of Swaziland (ATUSWA).  
Magagula said the statement was merely to officially confirm government’s position on an issue that was getting out of hand because the federations were aware of their status but chose to ignore it as they engaged in various union activities as if they were legal.


Adding, the minister said since the Act did not recognise them, therefore, there was no basis for government to have any conversations with them regarding the welfare of workers.
She said the statement on government’s position on this issue came about after her ministry realised that, while the federations were illegal, their members showed at various meetings purporting to represent workers.
The federations went as far as representing workers in meetings abroad, yet, according to the Industrial Relations Act, they were not supposed to, said the minister.


“We are surprised when we go to international meetings overseas and find members of the federations sitting in the meetings. We ask them why and on what capacity do they attend these meetings. It seems, to us, they love travelling or undertaking international trips and we say we are not happy about that,” she said.


She stated that as a matter of fact the federations were not members of the tripartite. The federations, according to the minister, were aware of this stance and they wrote a letter notifying government that they were withdrawing their membership because of the fact that they were illegal in terms of the Act.“They wrote a letter to us, in March, notifying us that they were withdrawing from the tripartite. We accepted their move because they were illegal,” she said.

Comments (1 posted):

Annie Brownlee on 16/10/2014 17:45:18
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Dear Minister I urge to seek an immediate amendment to legislation that formally recognises the Unions.

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