Times Of Swaziland: ESWATINI COMMITTED TO ILO - PM

ESWATINI COMMITTED TO ILO - PM
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 BY NTOMBI MHLONGO on 09/07/2020 00:11:00


MBABANE – Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini has reaffirmed the Kingdom
of Eswatini’s commitment to the values and principles of the International
Labour Organisation (ILO).
The PM was speaking during the virtual ILO Global Summit on COVID-19 and the
World of Work yesterday, where leaders and stakeholders from around the world
were keynote speakers.
The PM first congratulated the ILO for remaining steadfast and providing
leadership and support to its constituent partners during these trying times.
He said convening the virtual Global ILO Summit and the World of Work gave hope
to the members that notwithstanding the novelty of COVID-19, it would not be
bigger than their inclination to get together and solve problems as a
collective.
“The ILO is known for dialogue and collective problem-solving. I hope it will
draw into its wealth of experience and use that to contain the spread and
effects of COVID-19 in the world,” he said.
Yesterday’s event, under the theme ‘Building a better future of work’ was
a high profile session aimed at drawing lessons from the COVID-19 crisis,
especially the policies and practices implemented to address its economic and
social impact.
Tripartite participants from different countries shared experiences and
discussed ways and means to apply the Centenary Declaration for the Future of
Work to the post-pandemic recovery.
Sharing the country’s experience, the PM said at the outbreak of the disease
the Kingdom of Eswatini declared a national emergency on March 17, 2020 and
thereafter promulgated COVID-19 regulations, which were followed by specific
guidelines dealing with sector specific prevention measures.  He said the
guidelines were developed through consultative processes by various clusters of
the National Emergency Task Team which includes workers and employer
representatives.
“The overarching objective of the national emergency was to delay the upsurge
of cases and allow our health system to better prepare and not be overwhelmed.
The guidelines which came with the declaration of a partial lockdown included
restricting movement of people, ensuring maximum adherence to hygiene protocols
and health precautions, among others. These guidelines were drawn mainly from
those provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and ILO,” The PM stated.
Spread
Elaborating, the head of government said the country’s resources to contain
the spread of the disease had been stretched and that international development
partners, citizens and business organisations generously contributed in
replenishing the much needed resources.
In no particular order or size of contribution, he listed the partners who have
contributed as the Kingdom of Morocco, Taiwan, USA, India, Kirsh Foundation,
Business Eswatini, Eswatini National Provident Fund, UNDP, WHO, ILO and many
others, without whom he said, the fight against the disease would have been much
harder. “We still welcome partners who may wish to contribute to our COVID-19
Resource Mobilisation drive as we anticipate a need for even more resources to
recover the economy, cushion affected businesses and workers as well as support
our health sector,” he stated.
“As a country, we have done everything possible to protect loss of employment
as a result of COVID-19”.
The PM said government had issued guidelines on employment of contingency
measures which among other things provided for employment arrangements to
mitigate against loss of earnings and interim measures for workplace governance
which specifically addressed processes to lay off employees during the COVID-19
pandemic.
He said the guidelines also covered issues such as control on retrenchments,
variation of contracts of employment, wages councils negotiations and
occupational safety and health for all workers and, in particular, healthcare
workers.
“As layoffs have been increasing in the past months, government has
established a relief fund for workers who have been laid off. To date, 12 000
workers are expected to benefit from the fund. This is a short term relief and
workers will benefit for a maximum of two months.
“It has thus become urgent for the country to set up an unemployment insurance
scheme to cushion workers in times such as these. We wish to thank the ILO for
the budget support to initiate the UIF in Eswatini. The Government of Eswatini
will mobilise local resources to also contribute to this exercise,” he said.