News

THIRTEEN thousand security workers in Malawi have finally achieved recognition of their union, according to an announcement by Grace Nyirenda, General Secretary of the Malawi Textile, Garment, Leather and Security Services Workers Union.

The recognition agreement with the London-based global security corporation G4S was signed on July 9 at the company's head office in Malawi. A Ministry of Labour official, management of G4S, workers representatives of G4S and union representatives attended the meeting.

"This is just the beginning of better things to come," Nyirenda said in a message to security service workers elsewhere in Africa, and around the world who joined in supporting the workers in Malawi.

"This agreement came at a right time when the campaign against this company is intensifying on a global level," said Jackson Simon, spokesperson for SATAWU, the South African union that represents security officers.

In December, UNI complained to the UK government that G4S's failure to recognise the union in Malawi - as well its failure to pay proper overtime or to allow leave- violated the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

In May, a UNI sponsored fact-finding delegation of trade unionists, human rights activists and international labour rights scholars travelled to Southern Africa where they met with G4S workers in Malawi, South Africa and Mozambique. The fact-finding team found serious and ongoing violations of labour laws concerning overtime and time off as well as behaviour that consigned the workers to a hand-to-mouth existence.

Guards' salaries are so low in Malawi that they are forced to live in some of the area's poorest housing and guards reported that they are not allowed to take paid leave. One guard reported that he had worked an entire year with only a single paid day off which he took to attend a funeral.

UNI spokesperson Christy Hoffman said, "This is a great testament to the power of global solidarity. The next step is the negotiations for a collective agreement to improve conditions and put more money in people's pockets."

The Alliance for Justice at G4S, created by UNI Property Services, is bringing together G4S workers and their unions from across the globe to win a better future for security

workers.