Eswatini Labour Insight

  Forget about the diversion manoeuvres employed by the regime, the big question now is what will give for the country to finally conduct the elusive political dialogue?    Pictures: (Left)The entrance of the burnt public library in Nhlangano a town located in the south of eSwatini, and (Right) a retail complex in a village called Luyengo in central part of eSwatini in the aftermath of the June 2021 protests.(pic credit, the author) A few weeks ago, on the 29th June 2022 eSwatini came to a complete standstill as citizens adhered to calls from the pro-democracy movement to observe a one day stay away in commemoration of what they call the brutal killing of activists on the similar date a year previous, the 29th June 2021. The stay away call was of course opposed by the eSwatini government, who instead mobilised the public to continue with their usual activities just like any other day. The success of the stay away, acknowledge

  The ongoing wage theft from public service workers, its roots, progression and ultimate defeat through collective bargaining.  By Fundizwi Sikhondze Image sourced from the internet Last week on 03 August 2022 what appears to have been a breakthrough in the protracted negotiations in the public sector led to an agreement on the agenda for the negotiations year of 2022/2023. In the agenda parties agreed that for the 2022/23 financial year negotiations will prioritise the salary review, then Cost of Living Adjustment for the financial year 2022/23 and lastly appeals from the 2016 salary review process. Whether the agreement on the agenda means anything meaningful is going to be determined by the actions of the government and the reaction of public service workers in the coming weeks as negotiations unfold. What is clear is that f rom the onset the 11 th government of Eswatini (2018-2023) followed a policy framework whose point of departure was the assertion that public sector wage bill