From 29-31st March 2017, SATUCC held its annual Labour Symposium for 2017 in Gaborone, Botswana under the theme “Promoting Decent Work for Migrant Workers”.
The Symposium brought together SATUCC and affiliate leadership; trade union researchers, educators, and research institutes; civil society activists; and academia to discuss important thematic issues of relevance to trade union struggles and inclusive regional development and integration in SADC.
Specifically, the Symposium discussed the preliminary report of the research study on labour migration commissioned by SATUCC in December 2016.
Furthermore, the Symposium also provided a platform to discuss issues on the agenda of the SADC Employment and Labour Sector (ELS) meetings of the Senior Officials/Ministers and Social Partners, the Africa Union Specialized Technical Committee (AU-STC) on Social Development & Labour meeting to be held in April 2017 and the 106th International Labour Conference (ILC) discussions on Labour Migration to be held in June 2017.
In his remarks during the opening of the Symposium, the SATUCC President Comrade Gadzani Mhotsha urged the participants to utilize the 2017 Symposium to “develop trade union strategies to promote decent work for migrant workers and the protection of the rights of the migrants in Southern Africa” in light of this year’s theme for the Symposium.
On the sidelines of the Symposium, the core group of four researchers in the on-going SATUCC Regional Campaign on the SADC Employment & Labour Protocol, held their meeting to review progress of the Campaign at both national and regional level. Among the issues that the researchers discussed and recommended to SATUCC was that from 2017, the core group should be extended to incorporate other SATUCC affiliates as a way of strengthening the Campaign on the Protocol.
Established in 2015, currently, this core group of researchers is drawn from Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (LEDRIZ) and the Organizacao dos Trabalhadores De Moçambique Central Syndical (OTM-CS).
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