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Trade Union representatives during the meeting of the Working Group



The evaluations done during the meeting of the Working Group by leaders from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, and the results of the meeting with the company show that the Agreement has enabled resolving problems at the plants. “This is not some miraculous cure”, stated Glenn Jackson from UNITE, “but it is a powerful tool for problems to be heard and resolved.”





June 9: Working Group Meets



The members of the Working Group on NAMPAK met to analyze the prevailing situation at each plant, discuss the implementation of organizing strategies and analyze the agenda for the meeting to be held with the company.







Prior to the meeting, UNI Graphical had distributed a questionnaire to analyze the company’s respect for the Global Agreement. “The conclusions from the questionnaire are quite illustrative,” Olga Vinogradova, the UNI official who had drafted the instrument, told us. “They show us that the unions have taken on this commitment between NAMPAK and UNI as an action tool and that this in itself constitutes the main value of the agreement.”



During the meeting, the Group evaluated progress achieved in terms of organizing new members and collective bargaining, and also outlined the plans to be carried out in the 2008-2009 period.



“When we met with the company in 2007, we brought different petitions to the table. Some were union in nature, and others linked to the financial decisions NAMPAK was making in one of our countries, such as Zambia”, reported David Mwaba, General Secretary of Zagrawu. “It is very satisfying for us to see that wais to challenge these problems has been sought. It’s not that the conflicts have disappeared, but we now know we have channels that allow us to find solutions to them.”



After the reports, the Group agreed on the main issues to be discussed at the meeting with NAMPAK.



“There is a before, during and after the signing of a Global Agreement,” said Keith Jacobs, President of the Working Group. “The before, during and after are all useful periods to strengthen our union work and our global alliances. The Agreement is solid, because our network is solid,” underscored Keith.





June 10: Annual Meeting with NAMPAK



Fezekile Tshiqi, Nampak Human Resources Director



Fezekile Tshiqi, Director of Human Resources for the company, welcomed the Working Group, opening the meeting with a declaration repudiating the outbreaks of xenophobia that took place in South Africa; a declaration that was supported by the unions.



Minch Morais, Head of Information, presented an extensive and interesting research project on the situation of NAMPAK and its future development, especially in Europe and Africa.



Immediately afterwards, the situation of the company in each one of the plants with representatives at the meeting was analyzed in an open and sincere exchange between both parties.



Keith Jacobs submitted the proposals that had previously been discussed by the Working Group, Nampak@UNI, among others, to NAMPAK management.



1. HIV/AIDS



The Group will present a proposal for the implementation of regional seminars aimed at training local leaders and exchanging information on best practice with regard to the programs that already exist on the African continent.



2. Vocational Training



Based on a proposal by the General Secretary of Mozambique, Jessica Gune, the Group posed its desire that the training model being implemented in Leeds be transferred to the other company plants.



“We are satisfied by the frank and robust discussions we have held, as well as by the quality of the report presented by the company,” stated Keith Jacobs. “We are pleased to see we are cementing a social dialogue based on respect for differences.”



Fezekile Tshiqi reaffirmed the commitment of NAMPAK to carry out quality work and strengthening of dialogue for resolving problems.



For more information on these meetings and about the NAMPAK@UNI network, please contact adriana.rosenzvaig@uniglobalunion.org