PSUS TO HOLD PLANNING MEETING

MANZINI - The public sector unions (PSUs) of Eswatini will have a planning meeting tomorrow to deal with what they term ‘union bashing’.

Secretary General (SG) of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Sikelela Dlamini, said PSUs would be meeting tomorrow to forge a way forward. He said their meeting would also be in line with planning for their reconciliation process that shall be at the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) on Thursday.

Negotiations

Dlamini said as PSUs, they viewed the novel negotiations as a divide and rule strategy being employed by government (employer). He said what their employer as civil servants had done was setting a tone that would extend to the private sector. “We are following the process at CMAC and we shall also monitor the employer’s moves, as this is the union bashing we have raised at various instances,” Dlamini said. This was also the view of the SG of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), Mayibongwe Masangane.

Bashing

He said government was delivering a strong message on union bashing targeted at ending the bargaining power of unions. He claimed that they were not happy about the manner in which the negotiations were being dealt with. Masangane said they were set to pursue the legal route. “Our members should know that we have not agreed to anything as even the extended cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) is less than the inflation,” Masangane said. He said their strong belief was that a salary review would cushion them better from inflation than what was being proposed by government. It is worth noting that according to the Central Bank of Eswatini, the overall inflation is four per cent, as of May 2022, following a hike in transport, fuel prices and food.

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