Unions: IMF pressuring Croatia
to cut worker protection
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Wave of workers strikes continues in Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya, Feb. 3-- A wave of strikes continued to sweep across the country yesterday as thousands of workers downed tools over various grievances.

There were strikes in the capital city Nairobi involving Coca Cola distributors at the Nairobi Bottlers Limited plant and the Basco Paints factory.

About 700 workers within the city's Export Promotion Zone (EPZ) were dismissed following strikes and demonstrations that rocked the establishment over the last two weeks.

In Nakuru, over 3,000 workers of Spin Knit Limited and Sunny Auto Spares downed their tools early in the morning, paralyzing operations.

Elsewhere in Kilifi, the Coast Province, 1,300 workers at Umoja Rubber Company also downed their tools.

And as the strikes continued, the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) expressed concern over the increased industrial action.

Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli urged union officials affiliated to the umbrella body to give the Government time to review labor laws.

"You are aware of the ongoing labor laws review task force under the chairmanship of Justice Saeed Cockar," the trade unionist said.

In a rare move in support of the Government, Atwoli urged union officials to reach out to members within their areas of jurisdiction and convince them to avoid strikes.

He said workers should give the Government time to review the laws. He said COTU was involved in the review of labor laws that will address the plight of workers in the country. He also censured Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for interfering with labor relations which, he said, was against the law.

"It is our responsibility to educate workers on their rights and provisions of the rules to follow," he added.

Addressing a news conference in Nakuru, Atwoli told general secretaries of COTU-affiliate trade unions to call off any pending strikes. Atwoli told the workers that Cotu was involved in the review of labor laws that will address the complaints raised by workers across the country.

He said the COTU has organized a meeting for all union general secretaries on Feb. 19 at the New Stanley Hotel in Nairobi that will discuss the escalating industrial unrest.

The meeting, he said, will bring together Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the Ministry of Labor.

In a similar tone of voice, the Minister for Health, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, has warned Ministry employees against resorting to industrial unrest as a means of airing their grievances. She advised any disgruntled workers to forward their problems to her instead of downing their tools and taking to the streets.

She also said that a committee has been set up to investigate officers who were diverting medicines intended for public hospitals to their private clinics. The minister was speaking at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) after officially opening an international workshop on strategic planning of parasite disease control in eastern and southern Africa.

In the recent past, there has been a wave of workers strikes country-wide protesting exploitative employment.

Workers in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and a number of domestic industries have downed tools and accused their employers of all manner of exploitation.

Yesterday morning in Kilifi, police engaged Umoja Rubber Company workers in running battles for hours as they dispersed them following a strike at the Kikambala factory.

Officers led by Kilifi police chief, Willis Okello Onyango, chased away the 1,300 striking workers after they refused to observe peace.

In the capital city, Nairobi Bottlers Limited yesterday told its striking distributors to look for business elsewhere as they moved to disengage their relationships with the company.

The Country Corporate Affairs Manager, Joseph Kibuchi Kimani told the estimated 100 distributors who downed their tools yesterday the firm would not allow itself to be intimidated by a group that had rejected dialogue.

Kimani told the striking distributors not to join the current wave of industrial strikes in the country, saying theirs was not a labor-related problem but a trade dispute. Similarly, over 320 workers of the Sunripe Vegetable and Horticultural Packaging Factory at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport have gone on strike.

Elsewhere, over 300 striking workers of the two companies in the Ruaraka EPZ were yesterday fired by the management.

The workers had gone on go-slow since Jan. 25 to try and press for better pay packages from the companies.

The management of the two companies, Kentex and Sahara Stitch EPZ, put up notices yesterday morning announcing that all striking workers had been summarily dismissed.

And some employees of Keroka Town Council in Nyamira District who went on strike last week have been suspended.

The employees were protesting over non-payment of their salary arrears.

Source: East African Standard (Nairobi)

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Unions: IMF pressuring Croatia
to cut worker protection

By Emad Mekay

Washington, DC, Feb. 4 (IPS)-- International labor unions say they will help Croatia resist pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to liberalize its labor legislation, a move they say would threaten workers’ rights and create social instability in a country still reeling from years of war and civil strife.

"We fully support the Croatian unions in their calls upon the Croatian government to scrap these amendments and play their part in the process of changing labor legislation," said the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in a statement Tuesday.

The ICFTU, whose unions represent 157 million workers in 148 countries, said it was concerned that the Croatian government is yielding to IMF demands and the interests of other international financial institutions (IFIs) by proposing a number of changes to its labor laws.

The amendments, due to be debated by parliament this week, would liberalize labor relations without ensuring in return that social support is available to workers who might lose their jobs under the new law, said the Brussels-based federation.

The proposed changes are directly linked to the Stand-By Arrangement that Croatia signed Monday with the IMF.

The Fund’s executive board approved the country’s request for a 14-month stand-by credit for a $146 million loan to support its economic and financial programs through April 2004.

The Washington-based organization commended Croatia for its "increasing labor market flexibility" and for "stepping up progress in privatization."

IMF Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger said the structural measures to be adopted under the arrangement are meant to increase competitiveness [and] employment, and to align product markets in the small Baltic nation with the "best practices in the European Union."

Croatia said on Monday it would apply to join the European Union on Feb. 18. An IMF certification of good economic behavior could help that bid.

Croatia, a small country of 4.5 million people, is emerging from a decade of internecine war during which the former Yugoslavia disintegrated. In 2000, its new government joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has since promised to open up its economy.

The trade union movement there has blamed pressure from IFIs for threats to workers’ rights and for pushing economic liberalization programs that could hurt the poor and destabilize the nation.

But the IMF says that Zagreb’s new economic path to sustained growth and stability is homegrown, and denies "working out the details" of the program.

The unions are threatening to call a general strike this month if the government refuses to back away from the proposed changes and have created a strike committee comprising the five union confederations in the country.

The "general warning strike" would be followed by several other forms of joint action, says the ICFTU.

Under the proposed law, the government would reduce the money paid to laid-off workers and trim the notice required before sacking a worker from six to three months.

Under current laws, a worker who has worked continuously for the same employer has the right to severance pay equal to 10 months’ net wages. With the new law, the same worker would be eligible for only three months’ gross wages, or nearly 70 percent less, says the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia (UATUC).

The groups also protest that the legislation contains no provisions for unemployment benefits. Official unemployment in the country is 16.3 percent, a figure the Bank attributes to "an uncompetitive private sector."

Another controversial item in the proposed law is the plan to scrap the rules for ending fixed-term contracts, which means, "that job security in Croatia will soon be a thing of the past," says the ICFTU.

Employers would no longer be obliged to provide the grounds for ending such contracts if the changes are approved.

The ICFTU has repeatedly warned that one government’s success in impinging on workers’ rights in one country could be emulated elsewhere.

Dozens of nations that are embracing similar economic restructuring programs are reportedly considering comparable changes to their labor laws.

Another proposed amendment would change the definition of a small employer from one that employs 10 workers to a 20-person workplace. The effect would be to have many more workers slip through the net of protective legislation, from which small employers are exempt, the unions say.

The new definition would expose 241,000 workers to additional social insecurity, said UATUC President Davor Juri in an interview with ICFTU.

The government, which says it is striving to increase competitiveness and ensure job creation, cites European standards to support its changes to the labor law.

But the ICFTU charges that leaders conveniently fail to include the protective measures provided in European countries, which are directly associated with such standards.

"As a consequence, such amendments would mainly result in severely disrupted social security," said Juri. "Social differences will only become more obvious. Older workers will very easily lose their jobs and it will be even harder for them to find new ones."

Labor leaders say pressure to liberalize the labor market started in 2001, when the World Bank demanded changes to the labor law in exchange for credit to go with the structural adjustment program.

"Trade unions did not know anything about it, nor did the government feel obliged to inform us about any of the agreements signed," said Juri.

"The latest information we have says that the World Bank, apart from amendments to the labor law, also demands a solution for workers’ social protection."

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