TUCOSWA BIG MARCH TO DELIVER 16 DEMANDS

MANZINI – A major shutdown is on the cards as TUCOSWA is preparing to lead a big march to deliver a petition with 16 demands to government.

The proposed date for the march and petition delivery is April 13, 2018 and the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) has called upon all members of its affiliates to attend in numbers.
To ensure that all members adhere to the call, the workers’ federation will have regional meetings on April 7, 2018 as a build-up to the mass protest action. The regional meetings, which will be held simultaneously, are going to be held in Manzini, Pigg’s Peak, Siteki and Nhlangano. At the top the list of demands is the civil servants, cost of living adjustment for 2017/18 financial year which ends on March 31, 2018. In this issue, civil servants were demanding 9.15 per cent cost of living adjustment but government offered them zero per cent. Government maintained its offer even after civil servants decreased their demand by 1.3 per cent to 7.85 per cent. The matter was taken to the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) but again, the two parties failed to reach consensus and as a result, the commission issued a certificate of unresolved dispute.

Another demand is the implementation of a national minimum wage, which the federation wants to be fixed at E3 500. During the commemoration of Workers Day in 2017, unions under TUCOSWA agreed that such should be implemented because it would boost the economy of the country. They argued that when people were paid better, they gained buying power and the economy would shoot up. The federation also demands improved elderly grants. Currently, elderly grants stand at E400 per month. As expected, TUCOSWA has broken its silence on the proposed increase of electricity tariffs, Value Added Tax (VAT) from 14 per cent to 15 per cent and the taxation of electricity as these issues are part of the demands in the petition to be delivered to government on April 13, 2018.

This also includes the increase of user fees like passports among others. Moreover, the federation also calls for the immediate conversion of Swaziland National Provident Fund (SNPF) to a pension Fund. It is worth noting that this demand was part of the infamous 27 demands strike of 1996. The developments were confirmed by the federation’s secretariat; the Acting Secretary General Mduduzi Gina and Acting Deputy Secretary General Muzi Mhlanga

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