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Violations of Trade Union Rights in AFRICA

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions


Introduction
ALGERIA C87/C98
BOTSWANA
CAMEROON C87/C98
CAPE VERDE C98
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC C87/C98
CHAD C87/C98
CONGO C87
DJIBOUTI C87/C98
EGYPT C87/C98
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
ETHIOPIA C87/C98
GABON C87/C98
GAMBIA
GHANA C87/C98
KENYA C98
LESOTHO C87/C98
LIBYA C98
MADAGASCAR C87
MALI C87/C98
MAURITIUS C98
MOROCCO C98
NAMIBIA C87/C98
NIGER C87/C98
NIGERIA C87/C98
SUDAN C98
SWAZILAND C87/C98
TANZANIA C98
TUNISIA C87/C98
UGANDA C98
ZAIRE C98
ZIMBABWE

Introduction

Many African governments have still only taken on the form, but not the substance of democracy and the rule of law.

Civil society - including unions and the press - is frequently repressed, denying it the ability to express the needs of the people. Yet civil society could, and does, play an important stabilising role in many African societies.

Governments used the law when it suited them - developing complicated legal procedures that made it hard for unions to operate - but ignored court rulings when they favoured the unions. Public sector workers, including teachers, and journalists were particular targets of government repression.

There was little sign of any long-term economic improvement in 1996, and the reform policies imposed by the international financial institutions again hurt the poor and the vulnerable badly. Many governments proved only too willing to treat disagreement with these policies as subversion. They tried to split national union movements. They cracked down hard on unions, sometimes with legal manoeuvres, sometimes with arrests and violence - but always with a single-mindedness that seemed to desert them when it came to dealing with the economic problems the unions were urging them to face.

Public sector workers in many countries were again denied the fundamental right to be paid.

For the third year running, Nigeria’s military regime ran the affairs of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), through an appointed administrator. Two new anti-union decrees clamped down even more on union independence. Union leader Frank Kokori entered his third year in detention and Milton Dabibi was detained in January.

The authorities and their security forces in Swaziland kept up their campaign of repression and persecution against union leaders. There was no improvement in Sudan where independent union activists are detained and tortured. Governments in Djibouti and Ethiopia persecuted union leaders - especially teachers.

There were shootings in Ghana and Uganda. Union leaders were arrested and tortured in Congo because they went on strike. And in the worst single example of brutality, police in Lesotho murdered 15 construction workers and wounded more than 30 others on 14 September at the Lesotho Highland Water Project. Scores of workers and union members were again victims of Algeria’s vicious civil conflict.

ALGERIA C87/C98

Workers and trade union members again lost their lives as violence between armed fundamentalist Islamic groups and the government's security forces continued. Those who went to work were seen as government supporters and became liable to threats and assassination. Trade unionists were often singled out because of their role in established civil society - opposed by the fundamentalist Islamic forces. They included Djillali Arabdiou, a veteran photographer involved in trade union work and social welfare activities, who was shot dead on 12 March, 1996.

The state of emergency, declared in February, 1992, and renewed indefinitely in 1993, allows the Minister of the Interior to requisition workers during an unauthorised or illegal strike; to order the temporary closure of assembly places; and ban demonstrations likely to disturb the peace or public order.

The labour law prohibits trade unions from associating with political parties and receiving funds from foreign sources. Trade unions violating the law can be suspended by the government and dissolved by the courts.

The right to strike is restricted by lengthy pre-strike procedures, including 14 days of mandatory conciliation, mediation or binding arbitration. If no agreement is reached in arbitration, workers can go on strike after voting by secret ballot.

BOTSWANA

Elected trade union officials cannot work full-time for the union because they are obliged to work full-time in the industry or sector the union represents.

Public servants and teachers cannot form or join trade unions, but only associations with restricted bargaining rights. Agricultural and domestic workers are not covered by the Trade Union Act and cannot belong to trade unions or bargain collectively.

Workers can go on strike, but there has never been a legal strike in Botswana; the complex and lengthy procedures which must be followed make legal strikes impossible.

Trade union affiliation to international trade union bodies must be approved by the Minister of Labour, although if permission is withheld, unions can appeal to the courts. The law also allows the Labour Commissioner to attend union meetings.

CAMEROON C87/C98

The government of Cameroon continued to undermine the CCTU national centre and to promote the USLC national centre which it had immediately registered in 1995 after encouraging its formation.

Despite repeated promises to the ILO, the government made no legislative changes in 1996.

Under the 1992 labour code, the Minister of Territorial Administration must give prior authorisation before a trade union or professional association of public servants can legally exist. Trade unionists can be prosecuted unless they obtain such registration. The government has ignored some applications for registration from teachers' and public servants' organisations, and consequently considers their strikes illegal.

The government continued to deny registration to the National Union of Teachers in Higher Education, SYNES, which first submitted its application for registration in 1991.

A 1969 decree requires trade unions or professional associations of public servants to get approval from the authorities before they can join international federations. In practice, the authorities have often ignored this.

In April, the CCTU national centre said the government had been promoting the USLC in elections for trade union representatives in enterprises and workplaces. The prime minister's office called a meeting about the organisation of the elections but only invited the USLC.

The Ministry of Labour had previously sent letters to big companies asking them to allow USLC representatives access to enterprises so that they could meet workers. Some workers were threatened with dismissal unless they joined the union. Labour inspectors were told to promote the USLC in enterprises and workplaces.

There were also reports that managers at the National Electricity Company of Cameroon, SONEL, and the HEVECAM rubber-producing company had withdrawn check-off facilities from CCTU members. The managers, who were linked to the ruling party, were said to be promoting the USLC.

In September, the director-general of HEVECAM wrote to government ministers demanding that CCTU General Secretary Louis Sombes be banned from the company's headquarters. Louis Sombes had talked to the workers in the company about its forthcoming privatisation, reminding them that if their interests were not taken into account they had the right to strike.

In April, union delegates at the National Social Security Headquarters were suspended for eight days for opposing unilaterally-imposed restructuring plans and denouncing bad management. The director-general forbade all trade union activities. Francis Otseng, a trade union delegate and president of the CCTU youth section, was suspended for eight days and then dismissed from his job.

Cameroon introduced EPZ legislation in 1991. It exempted employers from some provisions of the labour code but stated that terms and conditions of employment must be consistent with internationally accepted workers' rights. The CCTU says that trade unions are denied access to EPZ enterprises.

CAPE VERDE C98

The dispute over the ownership of the First May Social Centre was still not resolved during 1996. The building is owned by the UNTC-CS national trade union centre, and includes trade union offices and space for educational and recreational facilities. The authorities confiscated the keys to part of the Social Centre in December, 1991, and handed them over to a breakaway union which later set up a new national union organisation and claimed co-ownership of UNTC-CS property.

The UNTC-CS took the matter to court – the Social Centre had been built for them by international trade union solidarity funds. In 1992, in an interim ruling, the court told the breakaway group to leave the disputed part of the centre and ordered it to be closed.

In 1995, a court ruling closed the case on a legal technicality without settling the matter of ownership. The UNTC-CS lodged an appeal.

On 7 July 1996, the Social Centre was legally registered in the name of the UNTC-CS. The government attempted to challenge the registration, but the 30-day period in which they were entitled to do so had already expired.

The disputed part of the centre stayed shut. The court appeal lodged by the UNTC-CS in 1995 remained pending.

For the third time in recent years the government requisitioned workers to end a strike. Dockworkers in Porto Grande belonging to the ENAPOR E.P. enterprise on St. Vincent Island went on a fifteen-day strike on 20 March. They were requisitioned on 29 March.

The UNTC-CS said that this was illegal because Cape Verde's strike law states that a civil requisition can only take place if a minimum service is not maintained, but the company itself had not stated the minimum service to be maintained, as required by law.

The ILO has criticised the government of Cape Verde for its failure to promote free collective bargaining in both law and practice.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC C87/C98

On 6 May, teachers went on an indefinite strike in protest at three months salary arrears and the loss of acquired rights resulting under a new public service law. The authorities refused to talk to them.

The teachers were joined by workers in state financial institutions who went on a three-day strike, and health workers, who struck from 13 May. Public sector unions joined the strike on 14 May.

Union leaders were repeatedly threatened. The general secretary of the USTC union centre was summoned by the presidential security service and members of his family were harassed.

The Ministry of Education issued requisition orders to teachers. On 13 May, 14 teachers were arrested and charged with picketing at several schools in Bimbo, Boganda, Miskne and Caron. They were detained for 48 hours.

On 8 November, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Public Security banned a USTC march in the capital, Bangui, to protest against public service pay arrears and the president’s decision to place public enterprises under his personal supervision - although the union had told the authorities about the march in advance in line with the law.

Security forces surrounded USTC headquarters. Union leaders told unionists to meet in front of the Public Treasury instead. The security forces beat workers with truncheons, and fired warning shots and tear gas.

The police arrested the USTC general secretary, Theophile Sonny-Cole; Charles Lockobo of the FSEC; and public sector union leaders Rene Sakanga; Maurice Trombo; Augustin Debat Dolly and Jean-Claude Zitongo. They were interrogated and later released with the exception of Jean-Claude Zitongo who was held longer. The police also confiscated a union vehicle.

On the following day the Prime Minister denied government responsibility in repressing the demonstration. This implied that the president and his security services were responsible.

Breaking a five month social truce with the government, the USTC said that it would carry out further protests unless its demands were met by 18 November. No protests took place however because the country was thrown into political turmoil by an army mutiny in mid-November.

There were no signs of a new labour code or revised civil service statutes in 1996. This was despite government promises to bring a 1988 law establishing a single trade union system into line with the 1995 constitution, which guarantees union pluralism and freedom of association. In practice, however, several union centres exists.

The law requires trade union officials to work full-time in their sector.

The authorities have registered some union organisations as associations under a 1961 law. But this law does not apply to occupational trade unions, nor does it provide adequate legal protection for unions and their activities. Several unions have reported that the authorities have ignored their requests for registration.

Collective bargaining is not protected in labour law. Where collective bargaining takes place, the government generally intervenes. Lengthy mediation and arbitration procedures must precede a strike.

CHAD C87/C98

In June, a union protest at vote-rigging in the presidential elections led to a massive crackdown by the security forces.

On 24 June, the UST national centre issued a press release denouncing irregularities in the elections held on 2 June and calling on its members to boycott the second round of voting on 3 July.

The Secretary of State for Internal Affairs and Security wrote to the UST on 28 June accusing the union of violating the 1962 Ordinance regulating associations. He said that recent UST statements had contravened its own rules on staying politically neutral and threatened to suspend the organisation unless it changed its position on the boycott.

This was despite a government pledge in a 1994 Social Pact with the UST – and repeated assurances to the ILO – that trade unions would be governed by the labour code and not by the 1962 Ordinance.

The UST also said that its internal rules gave it "the right to pass judgement on political decisions which may have repercussions on the lives of workers."

At 05.00H the next day, Chadian security forces occupied UST headquarters where the union had scheduled a general assembly.

On 2 July, the Chadian press agency and national radio and television announced that the UST was suspended until further notice.

The siege of the UST headquarters was lifted on 3 July, and some union leaders held meetings in the building. Others stayed away, fearing for their safety.

Armed soldiers prevented a meeting organised by the teachers' union, SET, in mid-July.

The government lifted the suspension of the UST on 31 July.

Chad adopted a new constitution in March which established freedom of association and the right to strike. It said expressly that unions could only be dissolved by judicial procedures.

There were again no changes to Chad's labour code. However, the government said that it had approved a new code which would be submitted to parliament for final adoption.

The government said that the new code would repeal the ban on all political activity by trade unions. It would also repeal the 1975 Ordinance suspending all strike activity throughout the country, and the 1976 Ordinance prohibiting public and similar employees from organising, which technically remained in force.

The new code would reduce the number of years which a worker must have been resident in Chad before being elected to trade union office, from seven to five.

The labour code in force has no specific provisions against anti-union discrimination. It allows the authorities to intervene in collective bargaining, and prior approval is required before a collective agreement can enter into force.

The 1962 Ordinance on associations requires prior authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior for the formation of an association. Workers who go ahead without such authorisation can face up to a year in jail. The Ordinance allows for the immediate administrative dissolution of an association and permits the authorities to oversee the funds of associations.

The ILO has asked the government to amend the Ordinance to specify that it does not apply to trade unions. In 1996, the government said that it had drafted an amendment to this effect and had submitted it to the Minister of the Interior and Security.

CONGO C87

On 22 January four union leaders were arrested, and tortured by police at National Security Headquarters during a strike in protest at the government's refusal to discuss its privatisation plans with the unions.

The unions had accepted the principle of privatisation, and were ready to hold talks with the government under a 1994 law providing for a privatisation committee that would include union representatives. But when the government ignored the law and went ahead with its plans, the unions launched a five-day strike on 20 January. It paralysed the state-owned telecommunications, electricity, water distribution, hydrocarbon, and river transport sectors, due to be privatised as part of an IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programme.

The union leaders arrested were: Oba Rene Blanchard, the president of the COSYLAC union centre, and president of the post and telecommunications union, SYLIPOSTEL; Lessita Otangui, the general secretary of FESYPOSTEL, the PTT federation; Bouya Bernard, the general secretary of SNTT, the telecommunications union; and Ondzongo Medard, an official of FESYPOSTEL.

They were moved to a prison on 24 January and subsequently charged with "interfering with the freedom to work". The unions said that they had followed strike procedures to the letter.

Two others trade unionists were arrested shortly after the others. An SNTT official, Tchikaya J. Felix, was charged with "holding a work stoppage with the purpose of interfering with the freedom to work" and "destruction of property". A member of the CGCAM union centre, Mampoya Jacques, was charged with striking.

After these arrests, other members of the union strike committee went into hiding.

The government said on national radio and television that the strike was illegal. It accused strikers of sabotage - water and electricity supplies and the telephone service had been interrupted on 19-20 January - and warned that those who did not go back to work on 22 January would be punished.

On 24 January, the Prime Minister ordered enterprise directors to suspend workers who had been on strike on 22 and 23 January. One hundred and twenty-two workers in the state enterprises, SNE, ONPT, SNDE and Hydro-Congo, were suspended.

The arrested union leaders were tried on 31 January. It was announced that the judgement would be given on 7 February. This was subsequently postponed to 14 February. Notices of dismissal from their jobs were sent to the four union leaders in prison.

In the first week of February, six trade unionists, including Imokomi Henri Paulin, Guy Daniel, and Kanda Gerard fled to Kinshasa, Zaire. The Zairian authorities contacted the Congolese authorities who sent the police to look for them. The six fled to South Africa. President Lissouba told Congolese media that they had been arrested in Kinshasa and would be extradited to Congo.

The government is reported to have viewed the strike as politically inspired; the president of the country saw it as an attempted coup d'Čtat, and said the time had come "to teach the unions a lesson".

On 14 February, the four union leaders were given prison sentences of four months and each fined CFA 50,000. No evidence was presented to support their convictions. After initially deciding to appeal, they withdrew, fearing the government would see to it that they got longer sentences.

The convictions were seen as an attempt to destroy the unions, and COSYLAC in particular, so as to remove opposition to the Structural Adjustment Programme.

In March, the disciplinary committee at the state-owned enterprise, ONPT, interviewed 21 workers who had been suspended for striking, and decided to reinstate them. But political pressure forced the committee to postpone its decision.

On 8 March, armed police from national security headquarters raided the home of the detained COSYLAC president, Oba. They smashed up a bedroom with axes and took valuables.

On 14 March at a meeting between the government and trade unions, the government announced that it would be sacking 6,000 public sector workers because of privatisation.

Trade unions reported that a climate of fear existed in the country and the authorities were terrorising trade unionists and their families. They reported continued harassment, intimidation and detention. Trade unionist Bakekolo Baker was detained. Others, Ekouatsanga Pierre, Okyemou Bernard, Ibata Emile, Dimi Marcel, Ebanguet Obili Jean Bosco, and Atipo Ludovic went into hiding.

The wife and child of Dominique Ntetani, a leader of the post and telecommunications union, were also arrested during March in an attempt to force him to come out of hiding.

Representatives of the ICFTU's African Regional Organisation went to Congo on 19 April. President Lissouba gave an undertaking that he would release the four union leaders and order the reinstatement of the 122 suspended workers by 1 May.

On 1 May the president announced the releases and reinstatements. On 6 May the trade unionists were released against guarantee of massive financial sureties. They said they would have been killed had it not been for international trade union pressure.

Despite promises that their release was unconditional, new charges were brought against them under a decree introduced on 6 March defining a strike as an illegal work stoppage.

They appeared in court in December and the case was expected to continue in 1997.

DJIBOUTI C87/C98

For the third year running, there were serious violations of trade union rights in Djibouti. Teachers' unions, as well as the UDT and UGTD national trade union centres were again particular targets of repression by the authorities, who appeared more and more intent on destroying them.

Also for the third year, the government did not attend the annual Conference of the ILO.

In January, the UDT said it was still being harassed and undermined by the government after calling a strike in September, 1995. The strike was held jointly with the UGTD national centre in protest against the government's austerity measures, imposed as part of an IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment Programme.

The government had refused to talk to the unions about the measures and the repercussions they would have on workers' living standards. The two-day strike resulted in massive arrests and dismissals, as well as police violence. At the end of the year, the government had amended some sections of the labour code, and had increased income tax, without consulting the unions.

Twelve trade union leaders who had been dismissed from their jobs during the strike had not been reinstated: Kamil Diraneh Hared, UGTD general secretary; Ahmed Djama Egueh, UDT president; Aden Mohamed Abdou, UDT general secretary; Mohamed Doubad Wais, UGTD assistant general secretary; Habib Ahmed Doualeh, general secretary EDD; Mohamed Nasser Abas, president of the SEP primary schoolteachers’ union; Hachin Adaweh Ladieh, general secretary SEP; Ahmed Birir Omar, official of the OPT telecommunications union; Abdoulkadek Houmed, general secretary health union; and Houssein Dirieh Gouled, Ahmed Elmi Fod and Moussa Wais Ibrahim, members of the CDE railways union.

The UDT headquarters remained closed after being sealed by the government in 1994, and the government closed down the headquarters of the UGTD during the year.

The UDT also reported that the government had encouraged the formation of a new trade union federation in 1995, the Djibouti Labour Congress, CODJITRA, as well as a trade union youth organisation, CONJEUTRA, to undermine genuine trade unions.

On 9 January, 1996, the primary schoolteachers' trade union, SEP, and the secondary schoolteachers' trade union, SYNESED, called a strike to protest at not being paid for three months. Other workers in public and state-owned bodies had also not been paid and the government had refused to discuss the matter with them.

Several union leaders were arrested, including the general secretary of SYNESED, Mohamed Ali Djama, and other SYNESED officials, Souleiman Ahmed, Mariam Hassan and Ahmed Bache, as well as the president and several other leaders of the SEP.

More than 230 teachers were arrested and taken to a camp guarded by the police in the village of Goubatto, 20km from the capital. They were held for six days before 217 of them were released. The remainder, including the two union presidents, were taken to court on 14 January after suffering police brutality in custody. After the intervention of their lawyers and a massive protest by workers in front of the law courts, they were freed.

On 28 January, 180 substitute primary school teachers were dismissed for having taken part in the strike. The police banned teachers from gathering outside their own headquarters. Schools were closed down for several weeks.

In May, SYNESED went on strike again, boycotting exam supervision and marking. On the second day of the strike, they were joined by SEP. The strike took place over deductions which had been made from their salaries when they went on strike earlier in the year, two-month salary arrears, and the threat of withdrawal of teachers' housing. The government still refused to talk to the unions.

On the first day of the strike, 25 May, the general secretary of SYNESED, Mariam Hassan Ali, and three members of the executive committee of the union were arrested and imprisoned for half a day. They were given no explanation for the detention.

On the following day, the SYNESED general secretary and several members of the executive committees of SYNESED and SEP were again arrested and imprisoned for half a day.

The unions said that the authorities had recruited French expatriate teachers to break the strike.

In June, the UDT said it was still being intimidated by the authorities. The government refused to talk to the unions on outstanding issues and the union leaders dismissed after the 1995 strike had not been reinstated.

In August, the government set up a commission of officials from the Ministry of Labour to draw up a new labour code. The government had promised in 1993, to revise Djibouti's labour law, which is still based on the 1952 French Overseas Labour Code. Some members of the newly-appointed commission suggested that the unions should be involved, but the Minister of Labour refused.

Other legislative measures concerning salary costs and hiring and firing procedures, which removed acquired social rights from workers were adopted by the government without consultation.

At the beginning of the new school year, on 11 September, almost all the members of the executive committees of the SEP and SYNESED unions were either dismissed, suspended or transferred. The measures affected 11 SEP leaders and 14 leaders, ex-leaders and members of SYNESED. Many of them were also ordered to leave government-provided housing. The unions feared that the authorities were trying to destroy them altogether. Four members of SEP went on hunger strike over the government's treatment of teachers and the six-months salary arrears.

On 5 October, hundreds of teachers held a rally at SYNESED headquarters to celebrate World Teachers' Day. Security forces used unprecedented violence to break up the meeting. Many teachers were injured, one seriously, and had to go to hospital. Many others were arrested. Over 60 were taken to a detention centre in Nagaad, imprisoned, and released some hours later. Other teachers took refuge inside the building. The police broke down the door and removed documents.

The police also arrested eight members of the SYNESED executive committee and took them to Nagaad, including Mariam Hassan Ali, the general secretary of SYNESED and Souleiman Ahmed Mohamed, the assistant general secretary of the UDT. Two other activists were imprisoned in the capital.

On 28 October, a bailiff accompanied by 20 policemen ordered the general secretary of the UGTD, Kamil Diraneh Hared, who had lost his job during the 1995 strike, to move out of his house. They had no official documents. Kamil Diraneh Hared had already lodged a court appeal after receiving an eviction order to vacate the state housing which had been provided with his job.

EGYPT C87/C98

The law establishes a single trade union system. It allows the national centre to control the procedures for nomination and election to trade union office, and the financial management of trade unions. The government can annul or refuse to register a trade union constitution.

Collective bargaining is restricted. It is not encouraged by law. The government sets wages and other terms and conditions of employment for most sectors. Public enterprise directors are not obliged to negotiate with trade unions and the government must approve all collective agreements in the sector.

There is little collective bargaining in the private sector. Large companies generally follow government regulations on wages and other working conditions. The law says any clause in a collective agreement which jeopardises the economic or security interests of the country is invalid.

Although strikes take place, the government considers them a form of public disorder and therefore illegal. In the 1980s, court rulings upheld the right to strike, but the government ignored them. Compulsory arbitration can be imposed at the request of only one party in industries designated as essential services, which are broadly defined. The judicial authorities can remove a trade union committee from office for provoking a strike in the public services.

Striking can carry a prison term of up to two years. Strikers have been prosecuted under the state of emergency which has been in force since 1981.

A 1993 Act entitled "law on guarantees for democracy", relating to professional trade union associations, closely regulated elections in these organisations, detailing requirements for a quorum, length of office, and electoral procedures.

The government published a draft labour law as part of its structural adjustment programme at the beginning of 1995, after two years of tripartite consultations. The bill, which retained the single trade union system, was still being studied in 1996.

It was reported that the bill would allow workers to strike for the first time, although these rights would remain limited. Strikes would require the approval of the national union through a two-thirds majority vote, and arbitration and mediation procedures would be compulsory before a strike could take place. Workers in industries designated as "essential" by the prime minister would not be allowed to strike. The bill was also said to strengthen collective bargaining rights. Other provisions of the draft made it easier to sack people.

In October, just before union elections, there were reports that the authorities had encouraged directors of state-owned enterprises to work against candidates for union office who opposed privatisation.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

The country's first-ever trade union made its third application to be legally registered – but the government turned it down again, and then claimed it didn't even know the union existed.

The independent service employees' union, the "Sindicato Independiente de Servicios" (SIS), made its first application for legal registration in early 1995. The application met the requirements for registration under the 1992 Trade Union Law. The authorities refused to register the union because they objected to the word "independent" in the union's name.

A second application for registration made later in the year was also rejected.

In early 1996, the SIS made a third application to the authorities. This was also rejected. Shortly afterwards, in a letter to the ICFTU, the government denied that the SIS had ever made such an application, and denied any knowledge of the union's existence.

ETHIOPIA C87/C98

The national trade union centre, CETU, has been closed down since the government cancelled its registration in 1994. The union's offices remain sealed, its bank accounts frozen, and its vehicles immobilised.

The government's action was said to be in retaliation against a speech made by the CETU president in August, 1994 in which he criticised Ethiopia's structural adjustment programme. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has ignored two high court rulings in December, 1994, to reopen CETU's headquarters, reinstate its property and reopen its bank account.

The authorities have encouraged a breakaway faction in CETU since 1994.

The CETU president lodged an appeal against CETU’s de-registration. The government prevented the appeal being heard throughout 1995 and 1996.

Towards the end of 1996, there were moves from eight of CETU's nine industrial affiliates to set up a new national centre.

The Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA) also faced government harassment. This dates from 1993-94, when the government helped a breakaway group from the ETA to register. It closed the ETA's bank account and those of its 134 regional offices, and even collected union dues and handed them over to the new group. Thousands of teachers were transferred. Twenty ETA members were sacked, including all its leadership. In December, 1994, the government again defied the courts and ignored a ruling ordering it to recognise the ETA as the legitimate leadership of the union.

In April, 1996, the ETA complained that the authorities were still victimising its members. Teachers continued to be transferred; some had gone missing and remained unaccounted for.

On 19 March, 1996, security forces invaded and ransacked the head office of the ETA. Staff were threatened. Abate Angore, an ETA committee member, was hit and arrested. The offices of ETA President Taye Woldesmiate and the ETA general secretary, were broken into and belongings were taken.

The home of the ETA president was also raided and personal belongings were taken. In March, the police had searched Taye Woldesmiate's father's house. Ato Abate Angore was released on 24 April when the ETA offices were reopened.

On 29 May, Taye Woldesmiate was arrested at Addis Ababa airport after a visit abroad. He was held in solitary confinement in bad conditions and denied access to lawyers and family until August. For several months, his hands were shackled 24 hours a day.

No charges were brought against him until August when he was accused of conspiracy against high-level personnel. Several court hearings were held but he was denied bail.

At the end of the year Taye Woldesmiate remained in prison. Two other ETA officials were also in prison: Abate Angore, who had been re-arrested on 29 September, and Kebede Desita, the president of the Retired Teachers' Association, affiliated to the ETA, who had been arrested on 24 March.

On 4 November, 1996, members of the ruling party, backed by police and security officials forced their way into the offices of the Federation of Commerce, Technical and Printing Industry Trade Unions, (FCTP), one of CETU's nine affiliated unions. They brutally assaulted the union's treasurer, Mulatu Gurmu, and took over the offices. The union had previously reported constant harassment by the authorities and interference into its internal affairs.

Although Ethiopia's 1993 labour law forbids workers in the civil service from forming or joining trade unions, the 1994 constitution allows them to organise and bargain collectively. The government has said it will bring the law into line with the constitution.

The labour law prohibits trade unions' from acting in an overtly political manner.

Essential services, in which workers cannot strike, are widely defined and include public transport; city cleansing and sanitation; electricity-generating plants; petrol stations; pharmacies; post and telecommunications; banks; and water supply.

The right to strike is restricted by lengthy pre-strike requirements. Binding arbitration can be imposed.

GABON C87/C98

Air cabin crew went on an indefinite strike on 5 April after Air Gabon said it would fire all 94 cabin crew members at the end of the month, and hire staff from private contractors. The company did not consult the cabin crew union, the SNPNC, and refused to negotiate.

The company firstly tried to bring in strike-breakers from South Africa, but the South African Embassy in Gabon made a public statement to say that this would not happen.

Air Gabon then recruited unemployed French cabin crew on fixed-term contracts. It also tried to get a legal ruling to ban the strike.

In May, after national and international trade union pressure, the government intervened to force company management to negotiate with the union if it called off the strike.

The dispute had not been resolved at the end of the year. On 31 December, all cabin crew union members received notices of dismissal. The SNPNC said that Air Gabon was acting illegally and violating procedures in the labour law.

The union and Air Gabon were scheduled to hold a meeting in February 1997.

GAMBIA

Pa Faal, secretary general of the Gambian Workers' Confederation, was arrested at union headquarters in the capital city, Banjul, on 3 December by officers from the National Investigation Agency acting under special powers provided to them by the outgoing military regime. His whereabouts were unknown for several days.

He was detained without charge until 17 December. After being released he was ordered to report daily to the authorities and banned from leaving the country.

Civil servants in the Gambia cannot form unions or strike.

GHANA C87/C98

The law gives the Registrar of Trade Unions wide powers to refuse to register a trade union. The Registrar can also refuse to recognise a union for bargaining purposes if a bargaining certificate has already been issued to a union representing workers in the same category.

The lengthy procedures to be fulfilled before a strike can take place have meant that there have been no legal strikes since independence.

On 5 November, four workers at a German construction firm, Bilsinger Berger, were injured when police opened fire on a demonstration for better working conditions.

KENYA C98

The law establishing the national trade union centre allows the president of the country to remove the centre's three senior leaders from office.

The Minister of Labour, as well as a representative of the ruling party, KANU, have non-voting membership on the Executive Board of the national centre. In practice this provision is disregarded.

Public employees in national government and university lecturers cannot form or join trade unions, though they can belong to associations which do not have collective bargaining rights. The Kenya Civil Servants' Union and the University Staff Union were both de-registered in 1980.

The government refuses to register the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union.

In 1996, the Registrar of Trade Unions continued to ignore a High Court order to register the Kenya Wildlife and Allied Workers Union. The union had previously been registered on 5 August, 1994. On 31 March, 1995, the Registrar of Trade Unions ordered its de-registration. The reasons for this decision were unclear, and on 27 July, 1995, the High Court ordered the union to be registered.

The law restricts the right to strike and the Minister of Labour has broad powers to determine the legality of any strike. All disputes must be referred to the Minister of Labour. A union must wait 21 days before calling a strike, during which time conciliation procedures are mandatory. The minister has the power to determine that there is no dispute, after which a strike is illegal. He can also submit a dispute to the industrial court for binding arbitration.

Although the labour law applies in Kenya's export processing zones, many exemptions have been granted, and there have been reports of violations of workers' rights in the zones.

During 1996, the Minister of Finance said that the government was going to review the labour law.

LESOTHO C87/C98

Police said to be acting on employers' instructions shot dead 15 construction workers and wounded more than 30 others on 14 September at the Butha Buthe site of the Lesotho Highland Water Project.

The dead and wounded were members of the Construction and Allied Workers' Union of Lesotho, CAWULE. They were among 2.300 sacked on September 12 after striking over wages and conditions – management said the strike was "unnofficial" – and had gone to the site to collect their final pay. When they turned up there was a dispute, and the police used tear gas and opened fire on them.

Many other workers were arrested and beaten up before being released without charge. The police also raided the homes of workers' families while hunting for members of the workers' committee.

Police violence had been used on several previous occasions against workers at the project. The project includes several contractors – LTA Ltd., South Africa; Spie Batignolles, France; Campenon Bernard, France; Balfour Beatty Ltd., United Kingdom; and Ed Zublin Ag., Germany.

It took international trade union intervention to get a negotiated settlement to the dispute. The management agreed to reinstate 1,700 workers and provide a redundancy package for the 600 others. They also said they would renew the recognition agreement with CAWULE which they had cancelled in June.

The project management promised to make a contribution of humanitarian assistance to the victims of the shooting and their families – but they refused to accept responsibility for the shooting.

Unions in the textile sector continued to complain that employers were constantly undermining union organisation by harassing organisers and intimidating union members. The government continued to ignore their complaints.

Unions have to go through lengthy and cumbersome legal procedures before they can go on strike. There have been no legal strikes in Lesotho since it became independent in 1966.

The government brought in a new law during the year which banned civil servants from forming or joining trade unions.

A bill passed in parliament in 1995 standardising teachers' terms and conditions, and banning them from striking, came into force in 1996. The government said teaching was an essential service.

Lesotho's labour law applies in the country's industrial zones – but police stations at the entrance to the zones stop union organisers getting in.

LIBYA C98

Independent trade unions are banned in Libya. The government-controlled national trade union centre is administered by the Libyan system of People's Committees. Union membership is compulsory - except for foreign workers, to whom it is forbidden.

The law says that the government must approve all collective agreements which in turn must be in conformity with the national economic interest. Collective bargaining is specifically banned for public servants, agricultural workers and seafarers, who are also not protected against acts of anti-union discrimination.

The right to strike is not guaranteed by law. Libya's leader has said that workers can go on strike, but they do not because they control their enterprises. Public servants can be imprisoned or sentenced to forced labour for striking. There are no strikes.

MADAGASCAR C87

Workers in Madagascar's 200 export processing zones are prohibited from forming unions or striking, even though they are allowed to do so under the 1995 labour code, which covers the zones. Around 27,000 people work in the zones.

Whilst trade unions make complaints to the Labour Inspectorate about violations of their rights, the authorities appear unable to enforce the labour law.

MALI C87/C98

In May, 38 trade union members at the foreign-owned gold mine of Syama, in the south of the country, were sacked for going on strike in March over the company's illegal imposition of a 12-hour day. The strike had resulted in the closure of the mine for a brief period.

On 10 June, 12 trade unionists, including three union general secretaries, were arrested for their involvement in a strike called by the UNTM national trade union centre on 10-11 June. The strike was over the government's refusal to open a dialogue with the national centre.

They were detained at the police station in the capital city Bamako. Ten of the detainees were acquitted of the charges against them at the end of July. Karamoko Traore and Ousmane Traore, remained in prison until the beginning of September.

MAURITIUS C98

On 26 June, riot police assaulted a group of eleven trade union leaders on a symbolic march to hand over a letter at Government House protesting at price rises, privatisation plans and welfare cuts contained in the budget.

Several of the marchers were hit with batons. One was choked by a baton held across his throat.

The union leaders were from the "All Workers Conference", an unofficial grouping representing all trade unions formed in May to co-ordinate union initiatives on national issues.

They were marching after the Commissioner of Police refused permission for a mass march which the "All Workers Conference" had planned for 26 June in the capital city, Port Louis.

They had informed the Commissioner of Police two weeks in advance.

But on the day before the march, the Commissioner refused permission for the march citing a section in the Public Gathering Act, which said that "no public meeting or public procession shall be held in the district of Port Louis on any day on which the (National) Assembly meets and sits".

The unions had planned the march for a Wednesday when the Assembly didn't normally meet.

Later in the year, the newly-elected government refused to honour binding salary awards made by the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal in connection with several pay disputes, some from 1990 and 1994. The government said it would contest the increases in the Supreme Court.

After national and international trade union pressure, the government paid the increases in December.

The outgoing government committed itself to amending labour law and referred discussions on the Trade Unions and Labour Relations Bill to tripartite committee. No significant progress has been made, even under the new government.

Current labour law contains restrictions on trade union rights, in particular by not giving trade unions enough protection against acts of interference by employers. Wage-setting by the government in the state sector undermines free collective bargaining. Legal strikes are made virtually impossible by lengthy pre-strike procedures and binding arbitration.

Although the law is applicable in the export processing zones, organising in them remained difficult. Many employers, and particularly those from East Asia, exerted all sorts of pressure on workers to discourage them from forming and joining unions, and trade union organisers still found it hard to get into plants.

Wage bargaining in the zones is rare. Wage levels are determined by Statutory Wage Commissions after representations by employers and workers' representatives. Additional laws which apply in the EPZs include such requirements as ten hours a week compulsory overtime.

MOROCCO C98

The UMT union centre said that throughout 1996, there was a deliberate strategy to destroy the union by dismantling its structures and demoralising its members.

Morocco's labour code does not protect trade unionists against anti-union discrimination, nor does it protect trade unions from acts of interference by employers, particularly from their promotion of employer-dominated unions.

In the private sector, unionists are sacked, fined, and imprisoned for union activities, and strikes in particular. Loopholes in the law allow employers to victimise unionists. Criminal charges can be brought against strikers for "withdrawing labour".

A UMT survey of 14 towns and cities revealed that at least 1,193 of its members had been sacked for union activities in the private sector alone. Two hundred and forty-two elected union leaders and officials were among those sacked.

The government took no action against employers who refused to pay the minimum wage and workers' social security contributions, closed factories illegally or victimised trade unionists. The simple election of a trade union leadership in an enterprise could result in employers calling the police. Police often assaulted workers who went on strike.

Many conflicts arose from the failure of employers to implement collective agreements. Morocco's collective bargaining laws are inadequate and wages for many workers are set by employers.

The UMT said that its members in the public sector, suffered victimisation, intimidation and arbitrary punishment.

On 17 April, the authorities stopped a demonstration organised by the UMT. The demonstration, held in Rabat, was to protest against the government's draft labour code and violations of trade union rights. Violent interventions by the police led to 18 workers being injured, five of whom had to go to hospital. The police then surrounded the UMT building. Two thousand workers went inside the building and continued to demonstrate. The police blocked all the exits for two hours.

The police repressed other demonstrations against victimisation of trade unionists held around the same time in Casablanca, El Jadida, Tangier and Mohammedia.

Amendments to the labour code which were being discussed in parliament would give employers complete freedom to dismiss workers at will and allow them to hire temporary workers as replacements during a strike. The draft code had been drawn up without consulting the unions and in line with the deregulation and privatisation programme the government has been carrying out since 1990.

The amendments to the code were later passed.

On 19 February, three hundred UMT members went on strike at the Germa-Somadir yeast-producing company in Casablanca. The company was owned by Karim Lamrani, a former prime minister. Management refused to talk to the union and ignored the provisions of the employment law.

The union had issued bargaining claims in 1995 which included compliance with the employment law. The factory management's response had been to intimidate unionists by moving or suspending them. On 18 February, they suspended the general secretary of the branch union, and the next day, they closed down production.

The management then dismissed 12 members of the union committee and 45 other workers. On 26 February, 200 workers at a second yeast-producing factory owned by Somadir, in El Jadida, went on strike and eight workers were dismissed. Management also closed down production.

An underground market in yeast emerged. With the agreement of the authorities, Somadir began to import yeast from Belgium and Italy.

In April, Somadir tried to make its employees sign letters applying for their jobs back and promising they would have nothing to do with the union.

At the beginning of July, the government finally intervened as a result of pressure, and organised a meeting with the UMT and Somadir, which resulted in 242 strikers being re-employed and getting their wages. The company refused to re-employ 91 union members who they had accused of sabotage.

In March, the UMT reported harassment and intimidation of union members in several sectors. At the Colorado paint company, 120 workers were sacked for going on strike and replaced by temporary employees. Union leaders were arrested on trumped up charges and 11 were fined and imprisoned one month under the penal code.

Management sacked the union general secretary at the Safir hotel in Casablanca in March, because he had taken part in a television interview about a dispute at the hotel. Three other members of the union committee were sacked and the union branch was dismantled.

In Jerada, the management of Moroccan coal mines sacked four union officials after harassing and victimising the general secretary of the union as well as engineers who belonged to the local UMT branch committee. The director general of the mine and the Minister of Energy said that engineers could not join unions, though such a ban was illegal and a violation of the constitution.

On 22 December, a UMT branch union was formed at the Fouissa company in the industrial sector in Tangiers. The following day the union members received letters of dismissal. The local authorities ignored the UMT's complaints.

There was no news of the whereabouts of UMT activists, Abdelhaq Rouissi, who disappeared in October 1964, and Houcine Ben Aki El-Manouzi, who disappeared in November 1972. They may be alive and held in a secret detention centre. It is believed they were detained for their trade union and non-violent political activities.

NAMIBIA C87/C98

Workers in Namibia's export processing zone are not allowed to strike. However this provision of the law will automatically lapse after five years, unless it is re-enacted.

NIGER C87/C98

Niger's military coup on 27 January came two days after the national trade union centre, the USTN, had called strikes for 31 January and 1 February. Union leaders and their families received death threats during the year.

A Legal Order issued in May introduced new restrictions on the right to strike.

On 9 July, the USTN launched an indefinite general strike calling for the restoration of the national independent electoral commission which the military regime had dissolved in the middle of presidential elections on 7-8 July. Strikers were threatened by the police, and on 18 July, the constitutional court declared that the strike was unconstitutional.

NIGERIA C87/C98

For the third year running, the Nigerian military regime ran the affairs of the national trade union centre, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), through an appointed administrator. The regime increased its control over trade unions with the issue of Decree No. 4 (1996) early in the year, and. Decree No. 26 (1996) which came into effect on 16 October .

Nigerian labour law provides for a single trade union system. All registered industrial unions have to affiliate to the sole national centre, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Fifty workers are needed before a trade union can be formed.

People working for the customs, the mint, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and external telecommunications are not allowed to join or form unions.

The Registrar of Trade Unions (Minister of Labour) has broad powers to supervise trade union accounts at any time.

The government often interferes in collective bargaining, and can impose compulsory arbitration in industries which are not essential services but are defined as such. Teaching has been designated as an essential service in which strikes are banned.

On 4 January, 1996, the government released four of five union leaders held without charge or trial since the 1994 oil industry strike: Wariebi Agamene, president of NUPENG, the oil workers' union; E. Iregha, branch chairman from the senior staff association of workers in the oil industry, PENGASSAN; F.A. Addo, first vice-president of PENGASSAN and Port Harcourt branch chairman; and F. Aidelomo, PENGASSAN chairman at the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company and PENGASSAN group chairman at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

NUPENG General Secretary Frank Kokori, who had been arrested on 20 August, 1994, remained in detention. There were rumours that the government would prosecute him on false charges of misappropriation of funds.

The strike had been over numerous economic grievances as well as the military regime's annulment of the June 1993 general elections, widely believed to have been won by Moshood Abiola. It had been supported by a general strike called by the NLC on 3-4 August, and had led to a government crackdown on the unions.

The national executive councils of the NLC, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN, were dissolved by Decrees 9 and 10 in August, 1994. Union leaders were denied access to union premises, and bank accounts and check-off facilities were withdrawn. The government appointed administrators to run the unions' affairs. Other decrees were issued preventing the courts challenging the government over labour matters.

In January this year, the administrator running the NLC announced that the compulsory union merger programme it had been carrying out since September, 1995, was complete: 19 unions had been merged into seven new ones, reducing the number of NLC industrial affiliates from 41 to 29.

The administrator said that supervising officers for each of the seven new unions had been appointed and the unions would hold dissolution and merger conferences to prepare for NLC elections by the middle of the year. He said that the 29 unions had been officially recognised.

The Minister of Labour frequently took part in the union merger conferences. The authorities went to great lengths to prevent certain union leaders from being elected to leadership positions: they postponed the conferences; changed the number of delegates to the conferences; changed venues; threatened to arrest union leaders; promoted ethnic and other divisions, and, in one case, were reported to have taken out a court injunction.

On 24 January, Milton Dabibi, the former general secretary of PENGASSAN and the secretary general of the federation of senior staff associations, SESCAN, was arrested. He had been in hiding for much of the time since August, 1994. There was speculation that his arrest was linked to the visit he had made to the US towards the end of 1995 at the invitation of the US national trade union centre, the AFL-CIO.

On 3 March, the Minister of Labour made public the Trade Unions (Amendment) Decree 1996 – Decree No. 4, which had been drawn up secretly by the government at the beginning of January.

The decree gave legal effect to the forced union merger process which the government had been carrying out. It made it a criminal offence for any union other than the 29 listed to be affiliated to the NLC.

It de-registered the existing 24 senior staff associations and 12 employers' industrial federations. Senior staff associations had been permitted to exist but were not allowed to affiliate to the NLC. Instead they were able to join SESCAN, an unregistered federation of senior staff associations. The associations were banned from collecting union dues by the check-off system.

The decree prevents full-time union employees from standing for leadership of industrial unions, and of the NLC at national and state levels. It says that a candidate for office had to be a card-carrying member of one of the 29 industrial unions.

Provisions contained in the Decree for dues payment by check-off to the NLC and industrial unions appeared to result in a double payment being made to the national centre and to make union membership and dues payment obligatory for all workers.

A clause of the Decree prohibited its validity from being challenged in court.

The Minister issued policy guidelines on the Decree and on the merger and NLC delegates' conferences. These stated that only card-carrying members of unions could attend and participate as delegates in union conferences and barred all full-time union officials from attending. The guidelines also said that any elected union official whose status was not in line with the decree would have to quit.

Around early March, John Odion, general secretary of NUBIFIE, the banking and insurance workers' union, was released on bail. He had been detained in November 1995 in connection with NUBIFIE's call for the release of political prisoners and for a return to civilian rule.

At the beginning of April, the government continued to threaten that a judicial commission of enquiry would be established to investigate trade unions leaders including Kokori, Dabibi and some former NLC officials.

On the eve of 1 May, the Minister of Labour told the News Agency of Nigeria that May Day commemorations were banned because of the continuing restructuring of trade unions. Workers who showed up for rallies were chased away by security agents or told that the rallies had been cancelled. However, in some states there were reports that rallies went ahead.

On 4 May, Adams Oshiomole, general secretary of the Textile Workers Union, was arrested. He was released on 6 May on condition that he report daily to the police. His arrest came the day before a meeting of industrial union general secretaries to discuss their position on Decree No. 4.

In May, there were reports that Frank Kokori was held in Bama prison, Borno state. He had been held in several different prisons, always in isolation. He was rumoured to be suffering from diabetes and had been refused medical attention. Milton Dabibi was reported to be held outside Lagos in a maximum security prison. He too was ill and had been refused medical care.

On 15 May, the government banned activities at national level of all university unions and associations after a 38-day strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Other unions involved were the NASU and the staff association, SSANU. Strikers were harassed and intimidated by state security officials and some were dismissed from their jobs.

On 20 May, the NLC Administrator announced that the NLC delegates conference to hold elections would be held on 29 May. Leaders of industrial unions affiliated to the NLC responded by saying that they had neither been informed about nor involved in preparations for the NLC Congress. They said that they could only participate if the congress was held on the basis of the NLC's constitution, not on the basis of Decree 4 and the Minister of Labour's guidelines.

The conference did not take place. It was widely believed that the government had wanted to hold it before the annual Conference of the ILO in June.

At the end of June, there were reports that Ukaumunna Uzoije, president of the Maritime Workers Union (MWUN), had been arrested by state security officials. It was thought his arrest may have been connected with a dispute between the MWUN and Union Dicon Salt. The dock workers went on strike to call for the release of their president.

On 23 August, the government banned the university unions and associations, ASUU, NASU and SSANU, and confiscated their assets. A few days later, four members of the ASUU executive committee were detained for two days.

Decree No. 26 came into effect on 16 October, though it was only made public at the beginning of 1997. It allowed the Minister of Labour to cancel the registration of any of the 29 NLC affiliates if he considered their activities to be at variance with the national interest. Although a union had 30 days in which to appeal against such a decision to the Minister, the decision could not be challenged in court.

Union dues would no longer be checked-off to a dissolved or de-registered union and the union would be banned from collecting dues. A union that went on strike in breach of a collective agreement would also have its check-off facility removed.

Referring to Decree No. 4, the decree defined a card-carrying trade union member as a worker employed in the trade or industry represented by the union, and specified that only card-carrying members could be elected to union office or participate in decision-making bodies, unless the post was strictly administrative.

This clause seemed to be aimed at Adams Oshiomole, the textile union general secretary, in particular. In February, his union had amended its constitution to change the job of general secretary from union employee to an elected position of a card-carrying union member. Decree 26 made this change irrelevant because Oshiomole is not employed in the textile industry.

Violation of the decree carried a Naira 100,000 fine or five years imprisonment or both.

In November, the whereabouts of both Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi were unknown. Frank Kokori had not been allowed to see a lawyer and had only been granted one family visit since August 1994. Milton Dabibi was denied family visits and there were reports that he was in ill-health.

SUDAN C98

The fundamentalist military regime abolished democratic trade unions in 1989. Only the government- controlled Sudan Workers' Trade Union Federation (SWTUF) can exist. The regime used intimidation to ensure that its supporters won union "elections" in November.

Most union leaders lost their jobs or were detained when trade unions and professional associations were dissolved after the 1989 coup d'état. The regime set up steering committees under its control to manage union affairs pending new labour law.

The 1992 Trade Union Act imposed a single trade union system. It allowed the Minister of Justice to define the sectors, industries and enterprises in which workers can form unions; denied trade union rights to certain public servants; and interfered extensively in internal union affairs and elections. It allowed for the suspension or dissolution of trade union organisations by the authorities, and did not protect against acts of anti-union discrimination.

In 1992, trade unionists from the pre-coup SWTUF went into exile and established the SW(L)TUF.

Local union elections were held in August, 1992, after the introduction of the labour law. Detentions and intimidation ensured that the regime's supporters got leadership positions. In 1993, a congress was held to establish the pro-government Sudan Workers' Trade Union Federation (SWTUF). The regime defined the SWTUF's objectives as to "mobilise the masses for production and to defend the authenticity of the Islamic state". Sudan's 107 unions were arbitrarily merged into 26 unions.

Most wages are set by a body controlled and appointed by the regime. There is very little collective bargaining and strikes are banned.

The regime uses the state of emergency established under Constitutional Decree 2 of June 1989, as well as other security laws, against leaders and members of the former unions and political opponents. Decree 2 bans "the showing of political opposition by any means to the regime of the Revolution for National Salvation". It allows the authorities to make arrests without warrants, or to restrict the movements of anyone "suspected of being a danger to political or economic security". There is no requirement to charge prisoners or bring them to trial.

During the first week of February, a trade unionist and farmer, Hassabu Ibrahim, was arrested together with three others and held without charge or trial in an unknown location, apparently for suspected opposition activities. They were held until mid-March.

Kamil Abdel Rahman Al-Shiekh, a member of the textile workers' union, was among several trade unionists arrested in May and forced to report daily to security offices in the morning and stay there until evening. The regime increasingly used this method of detention to avoid international attention.

Six SW(L)TUF officials and members were arrested on or around 4 June: Mahgoub Al-Zubeir and Yehia Aly Abdalla, vice-presidents of the SW(L)TUF; Nasr Aly Nasr, SW(L)TUF executive committee member; Awad Al-Karim Mohamed Ahmed, from the engineers' union; Minallah Abdelwahab Eissa, former SWTUF press officer; and Yehia Saleh Mukwar, a doctor and former official of the doctor's union.

None of them were charged or tried. They were believed to be held in a "ghost house" detention centre where torture is common. They had all been detained previously and were reporting regularly to the security authorities. Yehia Saleh Mukwar had only been released from detention during the previous month.

By early July, they had been released but were still obliged to report either daily or weekly to security offices.

At least 15 trade unionists were detained on or around 23 June in Wad Medani, Sudan's second largest city, following a petition presented to the government on 16 June protesting against deteriorating living conditions and demanding democracy and trade union rights. They had to report to security offices every day from 09.00 until 17.30 and were interrogated by a security official.

The detainees included Mahgoub Al-Zubeir; Yehia Aly Abdalla; and Nasr Aly Nasr who were re-arrested; Munalla Abdel Wahab, SW(L)TUF executive committee member; Abdalla Malik, SW(L)TUF; Abdalla Abdel Mejid, Dali Rahama, and Adam Abdel Kabir of the engineers' union; Dr. Al-Khair Aly Arbab and Dr. Najib Nigm El Din of the doctors' union; Abdeen Mehaisi of the agricultural union; Mohamed Abdel Mejid Mohamed Al-Hafiz of the lawyers' union; Awad Al-Karim Babiker, from the media union; Akasha Babikir, from the teachers' union and Osman Abdelgadar, secretary of the textile workers union.

The detainees were neither charged nor tried. They were said to be suspected of opposition activities.

In August, it was reported that at least four other trade unionists including Al-Haj Osman Al-Hassan; Mohamed Mohamed Tom; Kamil Abdel Rahman Al-Shiek; and Abdallah Musa, were also being held in various detention centres.

There were other reports in August that many doctors had been sacked and some arrested after going on strike for ten days at Khartoum Teaching Hospital. The strikers were supported by doctors in other hospitals. They were protesting at the presence of security officials in the hospital, violence against hospital staff, and lack of resources. Eventually the authorities reinstated the doctors, released the detainees, and ended the presence of security officials in the hospitals.

In October, union "elections" were held. Two months previously the regime had reduced the number of unions from 26 to 13 through mergers.

The authorities brought pressure to bear on non-government sponsored candidates to withdraw or summoned them to security offices where they were forced to sign undertakings that they would not stand. Very few ballots took place. There were no elections at all in the south of the country, and in the west the elections were postponed in a number of provinces.

There were reports that the treatment of Sudanese seafarers had worsened significantly after 1989. The regime controls the Sudanese shipping industry through the government-owned Sudan Shipping Line. Vessels owned by the company sail in war zones and in areas of health epidemics where no other ship will go. Seafarers are forced to work on them.

Former members of the shipping union which existed before 1989 were victimised. Workers who contacted the International Transport Workers' Federation to complain about wages and working conditions were liable to arrest and torture upon return to Sudan.

SWAZILAND C87/C98

The intimidation and violence directed against leaders of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) by the Swazi authorities and the security forces worsened in 1996.

On 19 January, the King gave his assent to the 1996 Industrial Relations Act (IRA) passed by parliament in December, 1995.

Under the act, an official of a trade union federation who calls a strike can be punished by a fine of 5,000 Emalengeni or a maximum of five years imprisonment, or both, and a subsequent five-year ban on holding trade union office.

Equally severe penalties apply to organisations or office holders calling, organising, or giving financial support to strikes in essential services. The Act gives a broad definition of essential services, and the Minister of Labour has unilateral powers to amend the definition. The list includes telephone, telegraph and broadcasting services.

The Attorney-General can apply for an order to stop a strike, and the Minister of Labour can apply to ban a strike on the basis of national interest, which is not defined.

The Act allows the Commissioner of Labour to suspend an organisation or federation, and gives him wide powers to interfere into union constitutions.

Trade union officials are banned from holding more than one official position in a union, and from holding office in a political party.

The Act limits the roles of unions and federations to the offering of advice and services, as had the previous law. Severe penalties, including dissolution, can be imposed on a union or federation which has, in the opinion of a court, devoted more time and funds on public policy issues than on occupational issues during the preceding twelve-months.

The Act also prohibits federations from calling rallies or mass meetings.

Prior authorisation from the Labour Minister is required before a trade union can affiliate internationally.

The 1973 Decree on Meetings and Demonstrations, restricts the rights of organisations to hold meetings and demonstrations. Under the Public Order Act of 1963, police permission is needed for certain meetings and public gatherings. Police can attend union meetings.

At the end of 1995, the authorities had begun investigating the citizenship status of Richard Nxumalo, the SFTU president. The police and members of the intelligence forces visited his home and on at least two occasions interviewed several people, including his relations, about when his family had settled in the region. They also went to his employer to look at his employment records. The authorities claimed that Richard Nxumalo was not a Swazi, but a South African.

The SFTU announced a mass stayaway for 22 January, 1996, to press the government to meet its "27 demands" - a list of issues the SFTU had first submitted to the government for negotiation in October, 1993. They included various labour and economic claims and demands for a more democratic society.

The stayaway also protested against the IRA and called for the legalisation of political parties.

On 18 January, the prime minister issued Legal Notice No. 11 of 1996 which designated the stayaway as a boycott. This brought it within the scope of the 1963 Public Order Act. Bail is not granted for charges under this act.

On the first day of the stayaway, 22 January, Jan Sithole, SFTU general secretary, Richard Nxumalo, and Jabulani Nxumalo, the SFTU assistant general secretary, were arrested while holding a meeting with the Swaziland Federation of Employers. They were taken to Mbabane police station and told that they would be charged under the IRA.

Their lawyer was allowed to visit them, but the police lied to him about where they would be detained overnight, and where, and at what time the case would be heard the next day.

The three union leaders were taken to Mliba where they were held with three other people in a police cell one and a half metres square and without water or lights. The toilet was in the middle of the cell and contained no water.

Next day, they were taken to a small police station in Siphofaneni about 75 kilometres from the capital city, Mbabane. The police brought a magistrate and the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute the case. By chance, the President of the Swaziland Law Society saw the convey of cars. He arrived at Siphofaneni police station and found that the union leaders had already been charged without their lawyer being present.

They were charged under the 1963 Public Order Act and Legal Notice No. 11 of 1996. The police had earlier told them that they would be charged under the IRA.

The president of the Law Society objected to the fact that they were being charged without a lawyer, and the case was adjourned. He went to fetch the SFTU lawyer who had been sent to the wrong place.

When the lawyers arrived in Siphofaneni the case had been heard. Bail had been refused. The magistrate remanded the three union leaders in custody pending another court hearing in seven days. The Director of Public Prosecutions recommended that they should be taken to a maximum security prison. The police refused to tell the lawyer where they would be imprisoned. Eventually it was discovered that they were taken to Big Bend prison for a short time and then transferred to Matsapa maximum security prison.

The following day, 24 January, the SFTU lawyer filed an urgent application for bail and challenged the charges in Mbabane High Court. On 25 January when the government's lawyers were scheduled to respond, the case was withdrawn.

In his summing-up, the judge made sharp criticisms about the way the state had handled the case. He said that false and misleading information had been given to lawyers about where the SFTU leaders were being held; the charges under which they were held; and the whereabouts of their court hearing. The judge was subsequently demoted from Acting Chief Justice to the status of an ordinary judge.

After their release on 25 January, the three union leaders attended a union meeting at Simunye sugar estate. All the participants were checked to ensure that they were accredited union representatives. One car arrived with two registration numbers, one superimposed on the other. After checking it was established that the car had a government registration plate covered with a private registration number.

The two occupants of the car ran away. They were chased and caught, and it was found they were members of the police force. The car contained revolvers and two pistols, ammunition, recording equipment and two-way radios. There were several other number plates in the boot of the car. The SFTU reported this to the police who drove the car away. The government had deployed the army and the police in the area.

The SFTU suspended the stayaway on 29 January. The police had fired tear gas and beaten workers during the stayaway and a sixteen year-old girl had been killed by a stray bullet fired by the police.

The government subsequently told the SFTU that it had appointed five cabinet ministers to negotiate with them. The SFTU tried for two days to meet the government's negotiators but failed. On the following day, the government sent a message that it would meet the SFTU - knowing that a meeting would not be possible because the SFTU leaders were attending the funeral of the girl whom the police had killed.

The SFTU planned a mass meeting on 4 February and the police threatened arrests and confrontation if it went ahead. The authorities banned the meeting.

On 7 February, SFTU Assistant General Secretary Jabulani Nxumalo was arrested and charged with forging a high school certificate in 1984. He was released on bail. SFTU leaders continued to receive death threats.

The government filed new charges on 28 February against the three SFTU leaders, two other senior union officials and the SFTU itself under the IRA in connection with the January stayaway .

The accused were Jan Sithole, SFTU general secretary and general secretary of the Swaziland Agricultural and Plantation Workers' Union; Richard Nxumalo, SFTU president; Jabulani Nxumalo Themba Msibi, SFTU trustee and president of the Swaziland Union of Non-Academic Staff of Higher Learning; Barbara Dlamini, SFTU executive member and general secretary of the Catering and Allied Workers Union

On 15 March, an agreement was made in the tripartite Labour Advisory Board to amend the IRA. However, the amendments were not submitted to parliament.

The five union leaders were summoned to a pre-trial hearing on 29 March.

Negotiations with the government were suspended because all the accused were in the SFTU negotiating team.

The charges against the union leaders were kept pending throughout the year.

On 4 June, the government wrote to the SFTU demanding damages for losses incurred during the illegal stayaway of 22-29 January, 1996. The letter gave the SFTU 20 days in which to pay the amount of E. 3,606,108.45.

In June, the government excluded the SFTU from the Swazi delegation to the International Labour Conference in Geneva.

Swaziland's Acting Prime Minister told an ICFTU mission on 23 July that the amendments to the IRA which had been cleared by the Labour Advisory Board were already in parliament. He said he would try and add a certificate of urgency to them so that they passed through speedily. The amendments to the IRA would invalidate the claim for damages against the SFTU.

At the end of July, the King appointed a 29-member constitutional review commission, including one trade unionist in his personal capacity. The SFTU said that the composition of the commission was not democratic because there had been no consultation about the appointments.

In August, Jabulani Nxumalo was acquitted of forging a high school certificate in 1984 because there was no evidence against him.

At the end of the year, there had been no amendments to the IRA and the government continued to refuse to negotiate seriously with the SFTU.

TANZANIA C98

The government is in the process of repealing a 1991 law naming the Organisation of Tanzania Trade Unions, OTTU, as the sole trade union in the country and allowing the president to de-register the union as and when he decides. The OTTU has now changed its name to the Tanzania Federation of Free Trade Unions.

The Industrial Court can refuse to register a collective agreement if it is not in line with the government's economic policy, although the government has said that a collective agreement can be applied even if it is not registered. Collective bargaining only takes place in the private sector.

Unions have to follow protracted and complex procedures before calling a strike involving mediation, conciliation and an industrial court decision. The end result is that most strikes are illegal.

TUNISIA C87/C98

Under a 1967 law, strikes are illegal unless the national trade union centre has given them prior authorisation.

UGANDA C98

In September, the police shot and injured five workers during an industrial dispute at the Kakira Sugar Works. One of the wounded workers had to have his leg amputated.

The Uganda Railways Union came under attack during the year as the Railways Corporation tried to get rid of the union's general secretary and create a puppet union.

The dispute arose when the Railways Corporation refused to pay a wage increase provided for in the collective agreement. The union took the case to the Industrial Court and won, whereupon the management stopped the union's check-off facilities, refused to hand over dues already collected, and refused to pay wage arrears.

The union went on strike when the railway management appealed against the Industrial Court's decision. The government deployed the police to disperse the strikers, many of whom were arrested and badly beaten.

After government intervention, the Railway Corporation withdrew its appeal. However, it refused to restore the check-off system, or to pay the dues it had collected and the wages it owed.

At the end of the year, the union reported that management and government were attempting to interfere in its internal affairs, particularly to do with the holding of its delegates conference.

The Uganda Banks Employers' Association also defied an Industrial Court ruling awarding a disputed wage increase to workers. The workers went on strike and the banks retaliated by sacking staff, withdrawing check-off, and withholding dues. Barclays Bank closed some branches.

In the private sector, new investors in particular acted to prevent unionisation by denying unions recognition as bargaining agents. This was prevalent in the textile, construction, agriculture, and road transport sectors and in new banks and hotels.

All individual unions have to belong to the NOTU, which was created by an act of parliament as the sole national union centre in the country.

ZAIRE C98

Trade unionists were increasingly victimised and discriminated against by the authorities and employers. They were also hindered in their work by the increasing lawlessness in the country and the further collapse of the state and the formal economy.

The labour code, which protects workers against anti-union discrimination and interference by employers into union affairs, was ignored, as were most other labour regulations.

Around 120 trade unions sprung up after the introduction of trade union pluralism in 1990 - largely because the authorities and others had created and registered a number of in-house unions and other unrepresentative and phantom unions, particularly in the public sector and state enterprises.

In 1996, there was continued discrimination against unions who were opposed to the government, and long delays in registration procedures. The Minister of Public Service told the CDT union centre that it must re-register in the public service before it could participate in union elections in 1997 - although the union was already legally registered.

Enos Bavela Vuadi Ki Tsakala, the president of the CDT-affiliated civil service union, DINAFET, and the assistant general secretary of the council of public service unions, COSSEP, was arrested and imprisoned on 10 January. The Supreme Court sentenced him to five months in prison for writing a letter to President Mobutu about the chaos in Zaire's civil aviation sector which had led to over 300 deaths in the preceding weeks after a plane crash in Kinshasa. The court ignored his parliamentary immunity.

He was detained in hospital with broken ribs after being tortured in prison. From the beginning of February, the president's militia began to circulate rumours about his death. It was widely believed they had been ordered to kill him, and on 31 March he escaped from the country.

Nakulukeba Makani, the general secretary of the port workers' union, STPM, was kidnapped during the night of 15 May in Kinshasa, two days before he was due to visit Geneva to take part in a meeting about ports and structural adjustment. Eight armed and masked men forced him into his car, threatening to kill him. They took him to a military base outside Kinshasa, and took away all his belongings including his passport. He was beaten up, his car was destroyed and he was left bound and gagged in the forest.

He had strongly opposed the privatisation of state-owned transport enterprises, and a press conference he had given had been widely reported in the media.

On 3 June, police arrested Steve Mbikayi Mabaluki, general secretary of the Solidarite union centre, and general secretary of the ONATRA union in the state-owned transport sector, as well as two assistant general secretaries of Solidarite, George Losola and Michel Diumu. The union had gone on strike in February in protest against the privatisation of ONATRA and the loss of 9,000 jobs.

They were arrested on the orders of the Director-General of the tax division (DGC) of the finance ministry and accused of instigating a strike which was being planned in the DGC. Six others were arrested including the national president of Solidarite.

On 16 July, twelve members of the Solidarite-affiliated Synagon union were violently arrested after a strike in the DGC over three months' salary arrears and the employers’ refusal to negotiate.

The twelve were held in bad conditions; they were tortured and charges were brought against them for disturbing public order: Mopipi Albano; Onaputa Mudimbi; Lubanda Maniema; Selemani Mashaku; Mvula Kimvunzi; Kilundu Mabongo; Manyana Ngobulu; Belebela Katengo; Kanda Musumani; Kenara Kela; Kalala Kabengele; Meta Mabuluki.

They were freed conditionally at the end of the month pending a trial. Mopipi Albano was released with a broken arm and Kalala Kabengele and Meta Mabuluki had to go to hospital because of the injuries they had suffered under torture.

At the mining company, MIBA, in Mbuji-Mayi in the Kasai-Oriental region, the employer persistently tried to destroy the CDT union by bribing and encouraging fake unions. He sacked the union's president, Mpabantu Albert.

At Regideso in Kinshasa, and Sizarail in Lubumbashi, the employers distributed money and goods to prevent workers from joining the CDT. In Regideso, obligatory membership forms were distributed in favour of the house union, and workers were threatened with the sack or transfer to provincial towns if they refused to sign up.

At Zaire-Gulf Oil (Chevron) the union delegates were dismissed and the employer refused to revise a seven year old collective agreement.

ZIMBABWE

There were legal moves to bring all workers under a new consolidated labour law. Zimbabwe's constitution prevents public servants, teachers and nurses from joining unions and determines their conditions of employment.

A draft of the new labour act would allow these workers to organise in unions which could join the ZCTU union centre and bargain collectively. They would have limited strike rights. In the past, they could only form associations which could not bargain collectively or strike.

An Export Processing Zones Act which had been passed at the end of 1994 enabling zones to be set up, exempted the zones from labour law. It gave the EPZ Authority the right to establish special labour regulations in the EPZs, in collaboration with the Labour Ministry.

After ZCTU protests, the president said in 1995 that the EPZ Act should be amended to make the labour law applicable in the zones. This had not been done by the end of 1996, although the government said that regulations were being put in place to protect workers and their rights.

The 1985 Labour Relations Act provided for workers' committees to be set up at each workplace, and to negotiate with management on a wide range of plant-level matters, excluding wages. The committees exist alongside trade unions, and are legally independent of them.

The 1992 Labour Relations Amendment Act provided for collective bargaining but the role and status of trade unions were further diminished by the greater emphasis on workers' committees. Works' Councils, composed of management and workers' committees, were given powers to negotiate collective agreements or employment codes. These can override industry-wide agreements reached by employment councils, again marginalising unions. The government can veto agreements which it believes are harmful to the economy.

The ZCTU said that the principle of getting rid of the workers' committees and replacing them with union committees had been agreed in tripartite discussions and was expected to be incorporated into the new law.

The 1992 Act also provided a broad definition of managerial employees, which included workers such as foremen and supervisors, and excluded them from union membership.

The Minister of Labour has wide powers of control over union finances to the extent of setting the levels of union dues. Union dues cannot be used for political purposes.

Long and cumbersome procedures must be followed before workers can go on strike. The law gives a wide definition of essential services in which strikes are banned. The Minister of Labour can at any time designate any service or occupation as essential.

On 20 August, civil servants went on strike over the government's failure to honour an agreement over pay increases. Nurses had gone on strike the previous day.

The Minister of Labour said that the strike was illegal, and on 22 August, the general secretary, John Makoni, and deputy general secretary, Charles Chiiru, of the Public Service Association (PSA) were arrested. They were released the next day.

The strike was called off on 22 August, but thousands of workers stayed out. On 23 August, the government said that strikers were sacked. This was estimated to affect 70-80% of 180,000 civil servants. Armed riot police were deployed in the capital, Harare, on 27 August to keep watch over sacked workers who gathered in the central park.

The PSA was prevented from giving its viewpoint in the state-owned press. There were threats of arrests, intimidation and victimisation of strikers.

On 3 September, the government agreed to reinstate sacked workers who went back to work. However, managers were told to identify everyone who had gone on strike. Over 30,000 workers were identified and not paid for the two and half weeks of the strike. The government began to abolish jobs.

Nurses and junior doctors resumed the strike on 21 October because they had not got the increase promised by the government. On 28 October, doctors and senior nurses went back to work.

On 4 November, Dr. Farai Jiah was arrested and charged with inciting the strike. Dr. Austin Bene was arrested on 5 November. Both were sacked. Doctors went on strike again.

On 8 November, Felix Mafa, the ZITU president was arrested and sacked, though the charges were later dropped. Many nurses were fired and given one month to appeal.

The government started to advertise health service vacancies in South Africa and the UK.

On 11 November, the ZCTU and other sections of society held a demonstration in Harare in support of the strikers. The authorities refused to provide a police escort. Morgan Tsvangirai, the ZCTU general secretary, and Isaac Matongo, the ZCTU vice-president, were arrested for two hours and the crowd was tear-gassed before the march started. Riot police used tear gas and batons to disperse demonstrators. The government invoked the colonial Law and Order (Maintenance Act) against the strikers.

On 12 November, the ZCTU called a two-day national strike calling for the reinstatement of the sacked workers.

On 18 November, the Supreme Court referred the cases of the five arrested doctors and nurses for inciting workers to strike. The Harare Magistrates Court noted that the law might be unconstitutional thus violating the right of the accused.

On 26 November, after an appeal to President Mugabe, half the nurses and a third of the junior doctors had been reinstated. Union leaders were excluded. Nurses refused to go back until their leaders were reinstated. They said they would continue to press for a legal mechanism for collective bargaining and dispute resolution.

By 18 December, the two doctors were still not reinstated. The authorities also refused to reinstate five nurses, and three hundred nurses walked out again. The government said they would not be reinstated and tried to stop them getting jobs in local health institutions. Nurses who went back to work reported victimisation.

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