BY MBONGENI NDLELA
EZULWINI – “Mr President of TUCOSWA, your secretary general always talks about the need to find each other. I hope today we get to achieve that because some of those who are prone to be evasive are here in the room to be found by those searching for them” – these were Business Eswatini President Andrew LeRoux’s words as he launched the first national bipartite dialogue between employers and workers.
The two-day dialogue was launched at Happy Valley Ezulwini, where it is taking place. The dialogue is meant to facilitate discussions in matters of productivity in the work place, social justice for all, wages and emoluments, inclusiveness so that no one is left in the cold, perennial industrial strife which is destroying places of work, competitive rivalry for trade union membership, gender abuse in the workplace, expanding the ‘economic pie’ in order to create new jobs for those sitting at home due to the appalling effects of COVID-19 and the recent social unrest which have seen some companies closed down – according to BE President Andrew LeRoux.
Speaking during the initiation of the dialogue, LeRoux said “As employers, we believe in dialogue not only as a way of life but also as a way of resolving issues in the work-place; even in our homes. To dialogue is in itself an expression of a yearning for peaceful coexistence and good neighbourliness. It is in that vein that I would like to thank our bipartite partners for choosing to show everyone here a better way to coexist and a higher way of resolving differences. Our economy lies almost in ruins and it demands men and women of goodwill to step up to the plate.”
Echoing LeRoux’s words, Trade Unions Confederation of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) President Bheki Mamba said “We are pleased to partner with Business Eswatini in such an important initiative to bring together a battle of ideas on how the challenges facing our political and economic environment could best be addressed Our partnership arise from our deliberate attempt to work together as envisaged in our memorandum of understanding. We have worked together to resolve the Nhlangano textile strike We are blessed by the facilitation of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) as they will be sharing with all of us the vast experience and information that they have accumulated over the years in such processes.”
The ILO was represented by Employer Activities Specialist, Maria Machailo-Molebatsi. She thanked both TUCOSWA as the apex representative body in the country together with their associate federations and unions, as well as Business Eswatini for cooperating to make this dialogue a reality. “We are happy that we have been able to support this endeavor. Eswatini is a country where it will require more than the government to revive the economy. I think it is fitting that both employers and workers have seen this need to go beyond government support. We all know that the private sector is the engine of growth, but we also know that for the private sector to create the necessary jobs, they need to be competitive. They need to operate in an environment that is conducive,” said Machailo-Molebatsi.
The dialogue will continue until tomorrow – after which the workers and employers will give a public update as to some of the resolutions taken during the closed section part of the dialogue.
