PROTOCOLS

Sani bunani

I would like to thank the President, General Secretary and National Executive of TUCOSWA for the invitation to ITUC-Africa be part of your 2nd Congress. It is a real pleasure and honor for me to be back in Swaziland to join you for this Congress and to address you. We in ITUC Africa salute the leadership and entire membership of TUCOSWA for your resilience and ability to remain steadfast in spite of all the manifold challenges you faced after your founding congress.
We are proud of your undying spirit and determination that saw you through the period of de-registration of TUCOSWA as a national federation and pay special tribute to the fortitude of your gallant leaders. We cherish also the steadfastness of all the affiliates and their leadership and membership who have struggled with these gallant leaders in making sure that TUCOSWA has survived as a national federation. We acknowledge also the immense solidarity of the international trade union movement and national federations in Africa, in Europe, in the Americas and elsewhere around the world who in diverse ways supported you and made sure that TUCOSWA did not lack friends in the quest to ensure its survival.
You have our heartfelt congratulations!

As you know, however, securing your right to exist and operate as a federation is in many respects, only amounts to overcoming one of the initial hills in the struggle of Swazi workers. There are many more hills to overcome.
When the ITUC placed Swaziland on the list of countries at risk in terms of the uncertain existence of human and trade union rights, it did so in the full knowledge that Swaziland was also one of those countries where the workers have demonstrated readiness and determination to struggle in a manner that can be fruitfully supported.

Our experience in Africa and around the world demonstrates that in many more countries democracy, human rights labour rights are at real risk. As we learnt during the pre-congress activity yesterday international financial institutions and employers are doing what they can to attack labour market institutions, introducing structural reforms in labour markets that create precarious work. Insecure and unsafe work is on the rise in many of our countries. There is increasing inequality with a drop in the share of wages for workers in many of our countries. There are growing attacks on collective bargaining and prevailing inadequacy of social protection for the majority of our peoples. Climate change is further threatening the very survival of increasingly vulnerable communities. The threat of drought in these parts and the dangers posed for food security is there for all to see.
A recent Oxfam study that revealed the disturbing finding that over 80% of the world’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of less than 100 persons points to the failure of the current global model of economy and trade that has only succeeded in producing massive unemployment with severe exclusion for young persons, women and migrant workers in search of a better life.
The dwindling economic and social fortunes of working people are compounded by the growing terrorist attacks around the world and the grave dangers they pose for people around the world.

These are indeed troubling times that call for a redoubling of our efforts at organizing, mobilization and tenacious struggle on the part of working people and progressive forces.

Within the ranks of ITUC we have identified ’building workers power’ as the essential means to enable us respond appropriately to the challenges that face us in the world of work and in society at large.

For us in ITUC Africa we formulated this in terms of working to build ’strong trade unions for a better Africa’. This is premised on our clear recognition that strong trade unions can make a world of difference in our striving to secure better conditions for workers all round. It also fits in with your own 2nd Congress theme of ’Unity for decent work’.
For us in ITUC Africa, the goal of strong trade unions for a better Africa is to be realized through the relentless defense and promotion of human and trade union rights including freedom of association, collective bargaining and social protection; concerted effort towards the achievement of peace and security; the pursuit of structural transformation, industrialization and regional integration in Africa; the promotion of gender equality; as well as action to avert the devastating impacts of climate change and environmental destructiveness.
Your own preoccupation with unity for decent work and the preparations for your congress with attention to the protection and promotion of human and labour rights; the link between gender and development; as well as policy development and capacity building for TUCOSWA equally speaks to these common concerns that face African workers and the rest of the world.

Dear comrades, what is most critical among all these preoccupations is what we can actually do to build our organization and strengthen it to address the issues that we can see facing us. Our own effort and achievement for building our organization is what actually lies within our own power and that is also what can actually position us to move forward on all the other concerns.

Organizing and building our unions to be effective in our different sectors, and in the case of TUCOSWA, building our Federation to address the issues that none of our Federation’s 18 affiliates can address on its own. This will require paying attention to the basic questions of organization. Union organizing to extend trade union membership in both the formal and informal economies. But this attention to basic organizing also means fulfilling your responsibilities as affiliates to your national Federation, paying your subscriptions faithfully and adhering diligently to the demands of collective decision making and implementation of the Federation’s policies.

The ability to build a strong TUCOSWA lies squarely in your hands. Others can help but it is what you do yourselves that would be decisive and make the difference. A strong national center can provide the necessary countervailing power to ensure that workers of Swaziland can make the critical difference in changing the fortunes of your society.

Swaziland as a country is striking in its homogeneity and common language, SISWATI, and the possibilities that these offer for progressive development with a strong trade union national center.
An appointment with history is beckoning the workers of Swaziland from this 2nd Congress. It is yours to fulfill.

We in ITUC Africa and the international trade union movement stand ready to march with you comrades, and we believe the sky is our limit!

AMANDLA!

VIVA TUCOSWA VIVA!

VIVA WORKERS OF SWAZILAND VIVA!

VIVA ITUC AFRICA VIVA!

VIVA ITUC VIVA!

VIVA INTERNATIONAL WORKERS SOLIDARITY VIVA!

AMANDLA!

NGIYABONGA KAKHULU!