Africa-Press – Eswatini. Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini had prepared a five-page speech to request trade unions to focus on the interests of workers, and not other issues.
The PM was expected to deliver the speech during this year’s May Day commemoration organised by TUCOSWA, but could not because the event degenerated to chaos. He described the event as a hostile and aggressive environment that pushed him to leave before he could address the hundreds of workers. He is focusing on a new chapter that will see Cabinet joining hands with trade union leaders to improve the world of work in Eswatini. Even though the PM did not get an opportunity to address the workers, he will still go down in history as the only head of government who attended a Workers’ Day commemoration.
Accompanied
He was accompanied by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, as well as the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Jane Simelane. In his speech, the PM had scheduled to plead with workers’ unions to do more to advance the interests of workers. The PM’s prepared speech mentioned that when workers were focused on other issues, other than their direct socio-economic interests, their economic interests were normally left behind.During the event, which was held at the Prince of Wales Sports Ground in Mbabane, members of political parties dressed down government. The PM had included in his speech that May Day was a day in which workers celebrated their ability to work and live independently of anyone else. The speech also contained the history of May Day and unionisation.
“Historically, unionisation came about to allow workers to collectively negotiate better terms and conditions of service, including salaries, wages and protection of labour rights. Even today, if workers do not come together, individual workers will not have the requisite strength of joint bargaining and resisting against abuse and infringements of labour rights. “It is important, therefore, to recall that the main focus of unions is to protect workers’ interests about their employment and labour rights,” reads part of the PM’s written speech.
Ensuring
Adding, the PM would have implored the workers to join hands in ensuring the effective implementation of the National Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) as the main vehicle that has been agreed upon and adopted by the government, workers and employers towards social justice and decent work for all. The DWCP for 2022 – 2025 was adopted by Cabinet and publicly launched on November 17, 2022. The document was signed by the then PM, Cleopas Dlamini.
The signing of the DWCP, according to the PM’s May Day speech, demonstrated the high commitment of His Majesty’s government to improving the standard of living for all workers in the country, ‘much in line with your organisation’s May Day theme of ‘Social justice and decent work for all’. The premier’s speech also mentioned that in the spirit of decent work and social justice, the government had taken note of the agreed road map that had been developed by the tripartite constituent partners on the process towards coming up with a national minimum wage and assured the workers that government supported this process.
“The Ministry of Health has already been mandated to work on the National Health Insurance Scheme, while the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security are working on various social security programmes to ensure comprehensive social coverage for every liSwati in this country. These programmes are all tailored with the liSwati worker in mind, to make both work and life decent for them,” further reads the PM’s speech.
The PM had prepared to also express government’s commitment to growing the economy so that they could create more employment opportunities as well as increase disposable income for the people of Eswatini. He had planned to encourage workers to work together as this had been a proven catalyst for economic success. He would have also highlighted how other workers had done well in terms of cooperatives and savings groups, saying this was commendable.
Encourage
The PM would have added: “I now encourage all workers who have not started to save to do so. Save, no matter how small your savings are. Do not consume all that you earn. Workers can be part of investments by buying shares and by saving. In the long-run, this becomes significant.”
The PM would have motivated workers to make propositions that would transform their lives. Primarily, he would have motivated workers to do better for their future.
He had planned to highlight that part of the things they could secure their future would be for workers to build their banks to enable them to access finance at low rates. Through these banks, the PM in the prepared speech, said workers could lend even their employers and charge them reasonable interest rates.“Teachers can build private schools and make a decent living from that, just as we have other international schools in the country. Nurses can build private clinics and hospitals and make a decent living from that as well.”
The PM had planned to make amends to close the gap between government senior employees, middle level and those at lower level by telling workers that he was also a worker. The PM had also planned to assure the workers that Cabinet had the best interest of all workers at heart and urged them to give them a fighting chance. The PM prepared a statement stating: “It is equally critical for workers to understand that the prime minister, Cabinet, and all public servants are also workers.
“As members of the current administration, we would like our fellow workers to know that government has the interests of workers at heart. Although we may not promise heaven and earth, we do want to commit ourselves and assure you that the minimum wage and the entire welfare of workers is being looked into by this government.” He would have also asked the workers to work with government to ‘build the country’ as it was the right time for them to work together and not fight.
“We are not enemies, but we have the same interest to build our country. We may have different responsibilities, but we have to work together. We, therefore, must seek to understand each other and be reasonable in doing so. As His Majesty’s government, we look forward to meeting the leadership of the various organisations that represent workers, to share the vision that we pursue as the new administration.”
The PM wants to expose officials who take bribes for jobs. During May Day, the PM intended to ask workers who were made to pay bribes for jobs and promotions to report the culprits to the police. The PM in his prepared speech outlined this reporting as part of the means of dealing with corruption in the country. “The government has noted the outcry on corruption. We invite all workers in the country to work with us to fight corruption. We urge individuals who have been asked to pay for jobs and who have been asked to pay for promotions to report such to the police and authorities so that these bad apples can be dealt with.”
Source: times
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