Trade unions must unite
Trade unions must uniteBy Editor
Friday April 06, 2007 [04:00]
That Zambian laws allow the existence of several trade unions is not a debatable question. However, looking at the consequences of such laws which permit formation of several trade unions within the labour movement, it is quite clear that workers have been left in an awkward and weaker situation.
Because of the proliferation of trade unions in Zambia, it cannot be denied that the situation for workers in Zambia today is more desperate than it has ever been over the last 42 years.
In order to understand the present situation for workers, especially the clear divisions among them, it is important to put a few things in perspective. First, we are aware that the laws that regulate the conduct of trade union activities are now probably worse than they were during the colonial era. We are saying this because the laws that were formulated under the Third Republic represent more the interests of capital than of the workers.
And we know that these laws had their basis in the neo-liberal policies adopted by the MMD government of Frederick Chiluba in the early 1990s. It is not an exaggeration that these policies were part of the neoliberal package sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. But they fitted in very well also with the political desires of Chiluba at that time.
Having been at the helm of Zambia’s labour movement for 17 years and having seen its role in the removal of Dr Kenneth Kaunda from power, Chiluba did not want a strong labour movement in the country. To that effect, he took advantage of his connections within the labour movement as well as his power as president of the Republic of Zambia to weaken the labour movement and make it politically impotent, for his own political expedience.
It is not a secret that Chiluba engineered the divisions within the labour movement. In fact, he was instrumental in the formation of the Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ). And because of the formation of FFTUZ, the strength and capacity of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) was reduced and this worked well for the benefit of capital.
We also recall that as a result of this neo-liberal approach to trade unionism, we witnessed a scenario where for nearly a decade of Chiluba’s stay in power, the one-time powerful Mineworkers Union of Zambia became one of the weakest and most useless trade unions in our country. Yet it was MUZ which played a very important role in the independence of our country. Because of the state machinations in its pursuit to weaken the labour movement, MUZ was made to pull out of ZCTU.
We saw that for the first time in its history, MUZ was on the side of capital on a number of issues, including on the sale of the copper mines and conditions of service for miners. This obviously led to further splits within MUZ and other weaker unions were formed from its bowels. Today, we see the effects of this in the weakened position of our workers in the mining industry.
Today, even when miners attempt to strike, we have seen that the President has the audacity to order them to go back without being seriously challenged by the leaders of mine unions. If anything, there have been complaints by the miners that their union leaders are always siding with management whenever they have issues to grieve over.
We can see that it is worse now that both the political and labour leadership are much closer to capital than to the workers - they speak for capital and not for the workers.
The situation is not only so for mine workers. Other unions in the country have suffered a similar fate. In the education sector, we have a myriad of unions - Zambia National Union of Teachers, Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia, Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia and the Private Schools Teachers Union of Zambia - representing teachers.
In a confused situation like this one, we certainly have very little to expect in terms of the strength of teachers’ unions. Why should there be all these unions, especially when most of the members of these unions, apart from private ones, have one employer - the government?
Now, we do not need to remind the workers of the overused adage that there is strength in numbers for them to realise that the present situation is not helpful to their cause. The present situation of numerous splinter unions works very well for capital, for the employers because all they need to do is to apply the principle of divide and rule.
After all, the workers are already divided. They have made it easy for capital because they have already divided themselves. All the employers need to do is rule over the workers!
As we have said in the past, and as advised by Union Network International regional secretary Fackson Shamenda for ZCTU and FFTUZ to put aside their selfish ambitions and merge, we think it is time that the workers of this country united under single unions for each sector and one labour movement and umbrella body.
We think this will have a positive effect in terms of increasing their capacity, improving their efficiency and effectiveness and in conducting their affairs in an orderly manner. We are convinced that the present setup of divisions among the labour movement will not do much for workers.
There is need for the workers to escape from the present state of affairs and return to the old times when they worked under single unions for each sector and under one umbrella body.
Labels: EDITORIAL, TRADE UNIONS
posted by MrK @ 4:59 AM
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