Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze
The year 2026 has arrived and with it are the usual bells and whistles that are a norm with each new year. A new year always presents an opportunity to reflect and trace the steps taken in the previous year with the intention to do better in the new year.
If looked into in proper context it is quite evident that the year 2026 will be another where immense challenges will persist and will continue to stand before workers progress. In the midst of the challenges however there are also grand possibilities that major victories may be recorded by workers in their endeavour for better lives.
In this piece some reflections will be made on selected key milestones of year 2025 and then selected projections for 2026 from trade unions will be presented as well.
Public service labour market
In the year 2025 victories celebrated include the implementation of the public service salary review and jobs grading exercise albeit after a tumultuous period of uncertainty had cast a dark cloud on the process. In the end hard steel negotiations skills of public service union leaders were put through a hard test and they recorded major positive outcomes even though murmurs of dissatisfaction from certain sections of the public service still persist.
In 2026 the implementation of the second phase of the salary review will be undertaken in July 2026, before that it is expected that appeals from the salary review and jobs profile will be filed and reviewed in accordance with the agreed timeframes in the collective agreement signed by the negotiating parties.
Public Enterprises
Challenges within the public enterprises continue deepening as the government implements reform programmes guided by multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and monitored through the fiscal adjustment frameworks by the Ministry of Finance.
The World Bank (and International Monetary Fund, IMF) have made the point that public enterprises need restructuring in order to reduce their reliance on the government as well as to open up space for the private sector within the sectors currently occupied by the public enterprises. According to these institutions public enterprises are shielded from competition removing the policy shield can help unlock the participation of the private sector in these sectors.
The World Bank has also called for the review on the tax policies of the country particularly in order to remove tax exemptions that they identified to hinder proper allocation of resources in the country. Currently several public enterprises are in tax arrears with the government owing to financial constraints.
Workers in public enterprises continue to be subjected to constrained environment of collective bargaining where the Public Enterprises Act (1989) directs collective bargaining over COLA be guided by the Public Enterprises Union (PEU) within the Ministry of Finance. The PEU releases a directive called MAJOR every year to limit COLA increases for workers within public enterprises. The situation is seen as curtaining the collective bargaining rights of trade unions in the sector.
In late 2025 the Eswatini Government extended the terms of refence for the Emergence/Umalusi Consortium to also conduct the salary reviews for public enterprises that require to conduct salary reviews. The forcing down the throat of the consultant by the Government can be seen to be wrong in multiple ways including the contravening of procurement procedures and laws of Eswatini. It may also cast the salary review process to be undertaken to be void of fairness and transparency.
The Private sector
The public sector labour market continued to be characterised by slightly above inflation growth in wages but not enough to preserve pre-COVID wage levels. Workers in retain and the service industry continue to dominate private sector employment with the service industry particularly entering all sectors including manufacturing, mining, banking and retail.
ILO Decent Work Programme
The year 2025 marked the coming to an end of the current Decent Work Country Programme, the framework for the collaboration between the Eswatini social partners and the ILO. For now it is not clear whether the programme will be extended or whether a new one will be developed to replace the current programme.
The ILO continues to support several projects within the Eswatini labour market including the Labour Force Survey (2023) which was released in 2025.
Several workers organisations shared their reflections for 2025 and their expectations for 2026.
The workers
federation, TUCOSWA
TUCOSWA has
pointed out four issues as points of reflection for 2026, namely the status of
collective bargaining, legislative reforms, social dialogue and international
labour standards and the unity of purpose within the labour movement.
On collective
bargaining the federation congratulated both trade unions and employers for
continuing to sit down, trash out issues and sign agreements that improve
workers working conditions. The federation went on to lament about the
challenges that trade unions faced in collective bargaining including the
continued application of impediments to collective bargaining by different
categories of employers including employers in the public service the Public
Enterprises Act (1989) and other actions of the government of Eswatini to
supress collective bargaining.
In the private
sector there was continued suppression of trade union organising especially
through denial of trade union full recognition by certain employers. In August
2025 trade union the Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Union (SATU) held a protest in
Matsapha against a security company called Stealth Security which at that time
was blatantly refusing to recognise SATU even though SATU had met the
requirements to be recognised and to enjoy full recognition rights.
In their 2025
End of Year Statement the Eswatini Government has lamented at the bad apples of
employers who continue to exploit workers and violate the labour laws, they
concluded by declaring their zero tolerance to such things by declaring, “Government
cautions that it has zero tolerance to this behaviour”.
On legislative
reforms TUCOSWA pointed out that they were positive that important legislation
would finally be passed in 2026. Important legislation include the Eswatini
National Pension Fund Bill 2025 which seeks to transform the Eswatini National
Provident Fund (ENPF) from a national provident fund into a national pension
fund. The bill has raised the ire of public service workers unions for what
they regard as moves to snatch streams of income towards the public workers
pension fund, the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) by splitting the
contribution of public service workers and handing some of their contributions
to the ENPF (pension).
The labour
(National Assembly and Senate) portfolio committees recently held a much-publicised
workshops on the bill in preparation for its continued processing in
parliament.
On Social
Dialogue and tripartism TUCOSWA lamented about the continued instability of the
tripartite framework. One of the examples of the tripartite impasse has been
the non-finalisation of the voluntary mediation process (between the Eswatini
Government and TUCOSWA) that was held in 2023.In the year 2024 the most
representative employers organisation in Eswatini the Business Eswatini also
withdrew from the main social dialogue body, the Labour Advisory Board citing
unclear rules with regard to consultation and the admission of new
organisations in the LAB.
In November 2025
the tripartite again set on a tailspin when the labour end employers
organisations in the LAB launched a major grievance against the Minister of
Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi for appointing a person from neither
business nor from labour to be the chairperson of the Eswatini National
Provident Fund (ENPF). Minister Buthelezi had in late October 2025 appointed
business person Derrick Shiba to the position of Chairperson of the ENPF.
On worker unity
TUCOSWA cautioned trade unions about internal dispute within unions and the
damage they caused in unions. TUCOSWA further reminded workers of the upcoming
TUCOSWA congress in March 2025 and the need for workers participation in that
congress. There have been reports of internal disputes that have paralised
trade unions such as the dispute within the Bigbend branch of the Swaziland
Agricultural Plantations and Allied workers Union (SAPWU) that has been taken
to the Eswatini industrial courts and where TUCOSWA itself had been involved.
Public service
union the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) released
their end of year statement where they cited challenges to include the rising
cost of living and what they termed as man-made depreciation of public service
in Eswatini. On a positive side NAPSAWU reflected on their successful
negotiation of the long-awaited public service salary review and jobs grading
which amongst other outcomes awarded housing allowance to workers in categories
where there was none before like workers in the A and B bands. NAPSAWU however
also acknowledged that certain categories such as those in the A and B bands
did not fully benefit from the salary review and jobs grading processes.
Trade unions
such as transport sector union, Swaziland Transport, Communications and Allied
workers Union (SWATCAWU). Swaziland national Association of Teachers (SNAT),
Swaziland Electricity Supply, Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (SESMAWU),
Swaziland Union of Financial Allied Workers (SUFIAW), the Swaziland Democratic
Nurses Union (SWADNU) to name a few also reflected positively on the new year.
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