Times Of Swaziland: FEDERATIONS NOT BANNED  – WINNIE

FEDERATIONS NOT BANNED  – WINNIE
================================================================================
BY MDUDUZI MAGAGULA on 12/10/2014 09:35:00


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.