SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE (New!) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk Tue Oct 28 04:42:01 1997 SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE FIRST EDITION 28 October 1997 Subscribe to the fortnightly Southern African Trade Union News Online SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE is written by journalists in Southern Africa bringing you news of trade union affairs. It is assembled and edited by Africa News Network, part of South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement in Denmark. SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE joins our other individual newsletters from Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa, providing up to date news through our established network of journalists in southern Africa. These newsletters will be followed, in the very near future, by news updates from other countries in the region. SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE is brought to you through a co-operation between South Africa Contact and Inform, Denmark's leading alternative information network. In this first edition: 1. SOUTHERN AFRICA:THE COMMONWEALTH TRADE UNION COUNCIL (CTUC)/SOUTHERN AFRICAN TRADE UNION COORDINATION COUNCIL (SATUCC) POSITION ON THE FUTURE OF THE LOME CONVENTION, SEMINAR REPORT, HARARE, 15-19 SEPTEMBER 1997 2. ZIMBABWE:RECLASSIFICATION OF EMPLOYEES DRASTICALLY REDUCES UNION MEMBERSHIP 3. THE DILEMMA OF MIGRANT LABOURERS IN SOUTH AFRICA 4. FORMER TRADE UNIONISTS FORM ZCTU THINK TANK 5. SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF ANGOLA 6. CONDITIONS OF MUNICIPALITY WORKERS IN MALAWI 7. PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS IN ZAMBIA 1. SOUTHERN AFRICA: THE COMMONWEALTH TRADE UNION COUNCIL (CTUC)/SOUTHERN AFRICAN TRADE UNION COORDINATION COUNCIL (SATUCC) POSITION ON THE FUTURE OF THE LOME CONVENTION, SEMINAR REPORT, HARARE, 15-19 SEPTEMBER 1997 The CTUC and the and the SATUCC held a workshop on the future of the Lome Convention. The workshop in Harare was attended by representatives from 10 trade union centres in Southern African countries. Participants also considered the SADC position on the Successor Agreement to the Lome Convention. Introduction The Lome Convention, which is a trade and development agreement between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, reaches the end of its current term in February 2000. Currently, the Convention is being reviewed and as part of the process the EU has issued a Greenpaper Paper for consultation and debate on the future of the agreement. The ACP believes that there are vital issues at stake for workers in the ACP countries because the Lome framework offers a much better prospect for handling globalization than a full-market driven world economy led by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The countries believe the Lome Convention is the most progressive and comprehensive development agreement in the world today. It has provided ACP countries with preferential access to the European market, including facilities for stabilising commodity prices and providing compensation for losses in export earnings (Stabex and Sysmin). There is much common ground in the position SADC has taken on some of the major issues concerning the future of Lome. Among these are *the need for the retention and renewal of the Lome Convention, especially in maintaining the preferential trade agreement and the special protocols and the stabilising initiatives of Stabex and Sysmin; *the need for the ACP countries to maintain their unity and solidarity in their approach to the negotiations with the European Union on the future of Lome; *combining these positions with positive differentiation in the ACP group for the interests of the Southern African region, in particular, removing the ad hoc approach as it relates to South Africa so as to promote both intra-SADC trade and SADC exports to the EU; * the need for more active and effective measures to lift the debt burden on ACP countries; *and more attention being paid to indicative development and human resources planning in the application of Lome. However, there are other areas that were either left out completely or not adequately covered in the SADC paper and these are discussed in the following sub-sections. Social Partnership In building on and renewing the Lome framework, it would be essential that the principle of social partnership is applied and implemented in related plans, programmes and projects. That means trade unions as well as employers and other stakeholders are properly consulted in order for ACP governments to harness their contributions in maximising representations for the renewal of the Lome Agreement. In the SADC views, this would strengthen the unity and solidarity of the ACP block in negotiations with the EU. A joint ACP/EU Private Sector Forum as currently proposed by SADC is clearly insufficient in reflecting the interests of trade unions and other stakeholders in civil society. Instead, consideration should be given to creating an Economic and Social Forum along the lines of the EU Economic and Social Committee, though will require resources which should be provided for as part of the institutional budget in future arrangements. Already, SADC has a specialist Employment and Labour Sector which is tripartite. What is required is to establish a tripartite committee under SADC which covers all sectors. Good Governance, Democracy and Transparency Good governance and human rights are absolutely central to ensuring decent economic and social progress. Lome IV has pointed to this repeatedly. It should not only be reinforced in the successive agreement to Lome IV, but should also be firmly made to explicit that trade union rights are an essential feature of human rights and democracy. Good governance not only means moral integrity, competence and honest administration, but also encompasses open and democratic processes. In particular, the implementation of Lome in ACP countries should be transparent to all stakeholders in civil society. This is especially so in the decentralised cooperation arrangements established in Lome IV in order to engage non-governmental organisations. It also applies to the determination of and implementation of the Lome Regional and National Indicative Programmes. Sustainable Development Greater attention should be given in the future of the Lome Agreement to designing and creating conditions that result in sustainable development. This requires greater attention to a number of Lome priority areas, which among others are *idustrial development: were there is need to strengthen the moves that take the ACP countries away from dependency on the export of primary commodities to durable industrial development; *through the creation of Regional Productivity Centres, greater emphasis should be placed on Research and Development (R&D) to facilitate the process of adding value to exports (beneficiation of raw materials) and creating new areas of competitive advantage (developing niche markets); *investment: much higher levels are required to put regional and domestic economies on sustainable growth path, this requires the adoption of national and regional strategies that boost the level of savings and direct foreign investment, investment missions abroad could be undertaken at the regional level to achieve cost effectiveness and discourage downward-based competition at the national level. Enabling macroeconomic environments characterised by low levels of inflation and interest rates are a precondition for sustained development; *human resource development: investments in human capital should be strengthened in individual countries. Human resource development should increasingly be demand-driven to ensure that the needs of the economy (both informal and formal) are met. The accent should be placed on skills development to ensure that workers have opportunities to advance their careers, particularly the disadvantaged groups like children, women and the disabled; *gender: issues of gender should be main streamed into all Lome programmes, targeted at encouraging learning transfer from best practices. Training programmes, accompanied by provision of soft micro-credit lines, have to be targeted at women. Special programmes to encourage the education of the girl-child should be adopted at both the regional and national levels; *debt burden: most countries in the Southern African region are reeling from a growing debt problem, where for example South Africa spends US$30 billion each year on debt servicing. Although most of the instances under the Lome Agreement are in the form of grants, the principles of solidarity and partnership underlying the agreement should provide the EU with an opportunity to use its influence on creditor nations, banks and international organisations to cancel, reduce, reschedule, undertake dent swaps and conversion; The debt burden has effectively reduced the options for ACP countries, necessitating the need to re-prioritize the areas of development. In this regard, ACP countries should take advantage of the peaceful environment existing to provide their people with a peace dividend through reducing military expenditures and using capacities existing in the military for infra structural development; *support for Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs): according to Lome IV, support for SAPs would be undertaken to ensure that "adjustment is economically viable and socially and politically bearable," (Lome IV Revised Agreement, Mauritius, 1 November 1995, p. 65). While these and other ideas are acceptable and indeed progressive, in practice the implementation of SAPs has continued to be driven by the orthodox policies of the IMF and the World Bank. It may be useful if the EU could, as the Japanese Government recently did, exert its influence on the IMF and the World Bank to change their policies along the lines suggested in Lome IV. The current joint evaluation of SAPs by the World Bank, governments and civil society in 7 countries (with four from Africa, namely Zimbabwe, Uganda, Hana and Mali), could bear fruit if the EU were to use its influence to support the suggested participatory approach in the design, implementation and monitoring of adjustment programmes. This joint evaluation of SAPs, which is referred to as the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI), will benefit immensely from the adoption of the positions adopted in Lome IV. *decentralised cooperation: to achieve sustainable development requires a shift from centralised, top-down approaches towards bottom-up, people oriented development. this could be strengthened by putting into practice the approach of decentralised cooperation developed under Lome IV. This offers a sustainable way of dealing with poverty and deprivation. Communities can be assisted to identify, formulate and implement projects that address their problems. The issue of community ownership of programmes becomes essential. *evaluation, monitoring and data collection: the mid-term review of Lome IV revealed the weaknesses in the Lome Agreement in that it lacked effective programme evaluation and monitoring. This has been made difficult by the absence of a comprehensive data base accessible to civil society. It is therefore important to ensure better programme evaluation and monitoring. The evaluation process could also be more effective if it involved other social partners and concerned stack-holders. Conclusion It is clear that there is an emerging consensus in the region among representatives of the voluntary sector (NGOs), business, trade unions and Governments that Lome needs to be retained and strengthened for the future of development cooperation between the EU and the ACP countries. This was evident from the expert panel discussions and the union national reports presented at the CTUC/SATUCC "Beyond Lome IV" workshop held in Harare. ACP Governments in the Southern African region should harness such support to strengthen their hand in the forthcoming negotiations with the EU on the future of Lome. The difference from the other trade agreements around the world is that Lome-ACP framework has high potential to help developing countries tackle economic globalization and to underpin sustainable development because it combines preferential trade, development and aid packages with partner organisations. The WTO's market-driven approach will not launch developing economies onto a sustainable development path. It was recommended that the ACP secretariat should therefore include social partners in its negotiating team for effectiveness. The workshop also noted that the briefing and education programmes should be organised by all groups to achieve wider awareness of the issues and broader participation in the debate on the future of Lome. This process, it was noted, therefore offers an opportunity to put into practice the cherished ideals of stakeholder participation in decision-making. However for participation to be effective, an institutional framework should be established to formalise the national, regional and international consultations. 2. ZIMBABWE:RECLASSIFICATION OF EMPLOYEES DRASTICALLY REDUCES UNION MEMBERSHIP The embattled Zimbabwe Electricity and Energy Workers Union (ZEEWU) is to appeal to the Supreme court against a ruling by the Labour Relations Tribunal that endorsed a reclassification of workers in the sector leading to a loss of more than three quarters of the union's membership. The Tribunal ruling was passed in August in 1997. According the General-Secretary of ZEEWU, Mr. Albert Mutengwa, the union was disgruntled by the ruling, which if upheld, would see the union losing 6 000 workers out of the 8 000 Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) workers being classified as managerial employees. Following ZESA's decision to stop deducting union dues from their employees which it deemed managerial, ZEEWU had applied to the Registrar of Labour Relations to vary the scope of workers it represents to include those in grades B2 to D2. ZEEWU had asked for determination of who constitutes a manager, and who does not, since ZESA Board had directed that those workers in grades 3 and above, as well as supervisory posts in Grades B4 to C1, were managerial employees. The Union's application was strongly opposed by Both ZESA and its Managerial Workers' Committee on the basis that it would include managerial employees who are barred by Section 45 (1) (b) (I) of the Labour Relations Act [Chapter 28.01], which states that ...a trade union shall not represent employers or managerial employees...This was upheld by the Labour Relations Tribunal. The Tribunal, in reaching its determination on the matter, took into account the Labour Relations Act's definition of a managerial employee. According to the Act, a managerial employee "...means an employee whose contract of employment requires or permits him to hire, transfer, promote, suspend, lay off, dismiss, reward, discipline or adjudge the grievances of other employees, or to make recommendations on these matters to his employer..." Justice Bhunu, who presided over the case, also looked at the job descriptions of those in Grades C3 to D2 then C2, C1, B5 and B4. All these employees had subordinates over whom they exercised some form of control. They may recommend for these surbodinates' promotion or discipline. "I therefore find, as a fact proved, that their job descriptions fit that of managerial employee as defined in the Act," ruled Justice Bhunu. ZEEWU had also lobbied that even if these employees were found to be managers, they should be allowed to join a trade union of their choice as envisaged under the Labour Relations Act Section 4. However ZESA argued that it would be a breach of the Act since the employees would be managers. Justice Bhunu argued that the gist if the matter was "who qualifies" and "who does not qualify as a manager." To him, according to categorization, ZESA was right. He said there was no prejudice in the presentation of managers since they were covered by Managerial Workers' Committee. The Justice then ruled that all ZESA workers in Grades C3 and above, those with supervisory posts in Grade C1 and C2, those in B4 and B5 are managerial. He ordered ZEEWU to bear the costs of the court's proceedings. 3. THE DILEMMA OF MIGRANT LABOURERS IN SOUTH AFRICA South Africa attracts a great number of residents from its neighbouring states, obviously because of economic hardships they face back home. This magnetic attraction back dates to the old days when great grandfathers flocked to South Africa during the boom of its mining industry which made the country's economy strong and differentiated it from the 'The Third World' bracket. But there has been a major debate as to whether all the migrant workers use legal means to get entry into the country of abundance. Border jumping has become rampant and this has put a stigma on all non-South Africans in South Africa. Mozambique comes first with the greatest number of immigrants followed by Zimbabwe. Different theories of how immigrants find themselves in South Africa have come up. It is said some carry chunks of meat with which they feed crocodiles until they cross the crocodile infested Limpopo River. Some are purported to swim across the Limpopo River. There might be different ways of crossing into South Africa but the fact still remains that these people find themselves in that country and face a painful reality shattering their dreams of finding money growing on trees or excess SA rands sweeping the streets. Jobs are not easy to get because there are a lot of job-hunting people, both South Africans and non-South Africans. Illegal immigrants are always on the receiving end. By virtue of not having relatives nor money, they then resort to sleeping on the streets, under the highways, and bridges, and toilets and disused buildings. Cardboard and plastics become handy as they make makeshift blankets for these people. Churches and charitable organisations provide food and bathing facilities to these immigrants. However, not all organisations do it out of goodwill for they get generous donations in money, clothes and food and convert them to their use and feed these people rotten food. Some South Africans are very bitter about foreigners - both legal and illegal. Those who fail to get employment and need money for accommodation, food and entertainment take crime as their last resort. Armed robberies are very rampant and more often than not, they have ghastly products. These criminals do not attach value to human life and are only worried about putting their hands on the hot Rand. They have been accused of stealing, killing,, taking South Africans' jobs and women. Some of the Zulus, Xhosas, Suthus and Tswanas do not even want to see immigrants and always call them names. Makwerekwere, Griganda and Kalanga are some of the derogatory terms used. So its not that easy in South Africa, all that glitters is not gold nor diamond. Some of the natives South Africans are suffering a lot, with a high rate of unemployment and illiteracy, and what about other illegal immigrants? However there are some success stories of illegal immigrants who fell on their feet in South Africa but after a struggle. 4. FORMER TRADE UNIONISTS FORM ZCTU THINK TANK An association of veteran trade unionists that includes senior Government officials has been formed to act as a think tank for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and participate in the selection of Parliamentarians. The group, The Trade Unions Veterans Association of Zimbabwe (TUVAZ) which includes Vice-President Joshua Nkomo and ZANU (PF) National Chairman Joseph Musika, Minister of State in the President's Office Cephas Msipa and other outstanding former labour leaders is now being registered with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare This year the trade union veterans were invited to the May Day celebrations by the ZCTU, a thing that had never happended for the past 17 years of Zimbabwe's independence. They were invited as individuals whose role in solving labour issues would be very crucial for the benefit of all the workers in the country. The ZCTU said the labour union veterans had a lot to offer in research, educationnal programmes and solutions to problems affecting workers. It was said to be a welcome move which will benefit the the labour movement from the veterans vast experiences. The role of the Association has been described as that of establishing a think-tank for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, its affiliates, the workers in general, and to inluence the selection of men and women who sit in Parliament. Workers have always been the losers at negotiating tables with their employers due to poor skills while their counter-parts have their act well prepared and reserahced by their consultants. Because of this protracted suffering of the workers, TUVAZ wants to take the advisory role behind the scenes. 5. SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF ANGOLA The Southern African Development Community (SADC) public sector unions have expressed great concern over the political instability, the suffering and devastation of the Angolan people by the war, in particular the working people of that country. In a statement addressed to the President of Zimbabwe, R.G. Mugabe, the PSI said it is very much distrubed by allegations that UNITA still gets a supply line from SADC member states in flagrant violation of UN imposed sanctions. The rebel UNITA movement has always used delaying tactics and has been continuosly blamed for its insincerty to respect the Lusaka Protocol. "We further condemn UNITA for their relucatance to solve the Angolan conflict ince and for all - so that there is peace and stability in that country and in the region," read part of the statement. The public sector organisation under the SADC region therefore urgded all the SADC heads of state to ensure that SADC countries currently rendering assistance to UNITA in violation of the UN imposed sanctions, to immediately cease the practice. The PSI further advised the regional grouping that SADC member countries and heads of state to cut all relations and isolate UNITA in their respective countries for peace and stability to prevail once and for all in Angola. 6. CONDITIONS OF MUNICIPALITY WORKERS IN MALAWI The municipal workers in Malawi are allegely working under harsh conditions, amounting to violations of basic trade union rights, according to reliable sources within the municipality workers union. Some of the allegations levelled against the relevant authorities include that the councils in the country operate with no mandate as no Mayers voted in since 1995 due to mismanagement and the failure to pay workers for as long as nine months. This, according to the sources, is a flagrant violation of basic union rights. The other allegation has been the non compliance by the Minister for Local Government to implement the 1994 directive to have Efficiency Bars removed from salary scales. This is said to have a negative effect on the work of the local government. The municipality of Malawi's employees (officers and labourers) must be eligible for gratuity and pension retirement packages, according to the sources. 7. PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS IN ZAMBIA The leadership of the Southern African Development Community public sector unions, organised under the aegis of the Public Service International, urged the Zambian Government to honour in full, the content of the collective bargaining agreement reached between the two unions in the public service, the Civil Servants Union of Zambiaand the National Union of Public Service Workers. The collective agreement was reached on December 13 1996, and the Government was being urged to effect the outstanding payment of the conditions of service mutually agreed upon. The leadership further urgded the Zambian Government to enter into negotiations for improved salaries and conditions of service as demanded by the concerned unions. The Public Service International in the SADC region deplored in the strongest possible terms the Zambian Government's apparent lack of willing ness to implement conditions of service agreed upon. It strongly felt that reneging on the agreement is an indication that the Government is negotiating in bad faith. Operations in most Zambian government departments and ministries were paralysed from September 29 to October 1 as a three-day strike called by the country's two public servants unions intensified on the second day. Union officials said the strike, which started in Lusaka on Monday 29 September, spread to all nine provinces. The workers were pressing for better conditions of service and higher wages, although they did not make specific wage demands. Zambia civil servants are paid between US$70 and US$115 per month. "The strike was very successful. Out of the 80 branches we have in the country, 71 went on strike," Civil Servants Union leader Japhet Moonde, said. Non-unionised staff at the University Teaching Hospital, the country's largest medical institution, battled to cope with scores of patients as nurses and clinical staff stayed away from work. ************************** SUBSCRIBE TO SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE If you would like to receive more information about SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE, or about our other newsletters or our upcoming newsletters, please send an E-mail to: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk We can also be contacted by fax and by phone at: Fax: + 45 31 35 43 32 Phone:+ 45 31 35 96 32 If you know of anyone else who might be interested in subscribing to SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE UNION NEWS ONLINE, please let us know and tell them about us! Letters to the editor can be sent to: editor@inform-bbs.dk (Mary Tingay) For a one year subscription: Students US$17 Pounds Sterling 11 DKK99 Individuals US$22 Pounds Sterling 14 DKK128 Institutions US$42 Pounds Sterling 26 DKK244 Fax and mail costs available on request. 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