Maravi

Nonde fears industrial unrest over labour relations bill

Nonde fears industrial unrest over labour relations bill
By Mutuna Chanda
Friday April 25, 2008 [04:00]

FEDERATION of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) president Joyce Nonde has warned of unprecedented industrial unrest if the government does not withdraw the Industrial and Labour Relations Amendment bill. The bill is currently before parliament. Briefing the press in Lusaka on Wednesday, Nonde described the bill as primitive, suppressive and vindictive and was only targeted at individuals in the labour movement.

She said the bill violated the Republican Constitution, the International Labour Organisation conventions and infringed on human rights.

“The bill that we agreed on at the tripartite labour council is not the one that has been presented to Parliament,” Nonde claimed. “Collective bargaining has been destroyed in this amendment bill because workers will no longer be represented by union officials of their choice but by those imposed by government and employers.

This is taking away our freedom of association, which we fought for in the 1997 amendments. Workers must be represented by leaders of their choice without interference from employers and government.”
She noted that the Labour Commissioner had been given powers to register or not to register a trade union based on threats to national security and yet national security had not been defined.

“This proposed law will lead to non-registration of trade unions and therefore leave many workers at the mercy of employers. This is testimony that today the Labour Commissioner has continued denying workers the right to form their trade unions.

The few trade unions that have been registered recently have been through court orders... . Under the bill, the minister has taken away the powers from the workers and employers through the tripartite consultative labour council to himself alone to decide which category of workers are essential and not eligible to take strike action.

So if for example today at Bank of Zambia the workers are not happy with the conditions of service and they want to revolt, the minister can sign a statutory instrument in the night and declare them essential workers before they take any action. It would be long before all workers in Zambia are declared essential workers.”

She further said the amended labour law, if passed, would render trade union secretariats non-existent as they would now be run by part-time staff.

“All general secretaries of existing trade unions have been disqualified under the amendment bill from recontesting their elective posts. The law proposes that full-time positions in trade unions should be on part-time and that once a trade union official is seconded, he/she should cease to stand for re-election,” Nonde noted.

She said that her union would consult with the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions whether or not to attend next week’s tripartite labour council to which they have been invited.

“What will be the purpose of the tripartite labour council if the law has already been sent to parliament? We won’t be used as rubber stamps to show that we are in agreement on the amended law,” said Nonde.

Some of the contentious issues that FFTUZ disputes included the amendments of: section 69 of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act where the most representative trade unions in the sector, trade or industry would lead negotiations with employers after forming an alliance with minority labour bodies; section 21 where the labour commissioner had been given powers to appoint an independent auditor to look at the books of account of a trade union which is suspected of abusing funds or using them contrary to its objectives and that depending on the auditor’s recommendation, officers of the union could be suspended for a period not beyond 90 days pending conclusion of the audit report.

Labels: FFTUZ, JOYCE NONDE, LABOUR, STRIKE

posted by MrK @ 4:01 AM