SCAWU JOINED FELLOW UNI COMMERCIAL AFRICA FOR REGIONAL CONFERENCE AND TO STRATEGISE AROUND MASSMART (WALMART)

Delegates in the UNI Africa Commerce Massmart (Walmart) Alliance posing for a group picture as they met to  strategise on collective bargaining approaches within the Massmart group. (Photo credit: UNI Commerce X Account)

Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze - Publishing Editor

On the 24 and 27th October 2023 the Secretary General of the Swaziland Commercial and Allied Workers Union (SCAWU) Comrade Philasande Mthethwa joined trade union leaders and activists  from several African countries in Johannesburg under the auspices of UNI Africa Commence. Trade unions engaged in the sessions were from countries including Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.

The gathering was spilt into two sessions of two days. The first session served to strategise on collective bargaining and other issues that affect workers who are employed at Massmart/Walmart  across Africa. The second session served as a conference of the UNI Commercial Africa. The conference conducted itself and elected a leadership collective of the UNI Commerce Africa that include comrade Philasande as an alternate member of the steering committee.

In their website the Massmart/ Walmart group confirm the ownership of several retail outlets across Africa including Game, Jumbo Cash and Carry, Macro, Rhino Cash and Carry, Builders Hardware and Cambridge food. The most prominent brand in the Massmart/Walmart group in Eswatini at the moment is the Mass Cash And Carry store that operates in Manzini.

One of the key outcomes for the Massmart alliance was the adoption of an ambitious action plan to grow the strength of trade unions in the commercial sector across Africa according to the UNI Commerce X (twitter) platform. It was further reported by that the participants in the meeting ,joined by other commercial/retail workers, later delivered a petition at the headquarters of Walmart in Johannesburg calling for the group to respect basic trade union rights across the African continent.

SCAWU Secretary General Philasande Mthethwa conducting a group session with other participants. 

(Picture credit: UNI Commerce X page)

Secretary General of SCAWU Comrade Philasande Mthethwa when interviewed by the ELI confirmed the UNI Africa conference and added that in the conference he was elected as an alternative member in the steering committee. On the Massmart alliance meeting SG Philasande concurred that the meeting  dealt mostly with non standard employment conditions endured by workers employed by the business across the African continent. The trade unionists had had noted  that Massmart was continuously informalizing working arrangements in order weaken trade unions in their retail shops. He further informed the ELI that in the meeting they jointly  took resolutions to campaign in order to end the informalisation of working conditions as well as both data rights and surveillance at the workplace, "Employers must state openly where and how they will use the data that they will collect from workers" He said.