INTERNATIONAL

Uniting Nigerian and South African workers

A bilateral conference between the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and COSATU was held on the 24 to 27 January 2000 in Abuja - Nigeria. This is a summary of declaration produced at this historic meeting.

Preamble

It is symbolic that this bilateral conference was held on 27 January 2000,the first anniversary of the reconstituted NLC, four years after the military dictatorship dissolved the Executive of the Congress.

For the first time in its history, COSATU sent a delegation of 18 senior leaders from 14 of its 17 affiliates to Nigeria.

The President, Willie Madisha and General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi led this senior delegation. The NLC was represented by all of its 29 affiliates led by the President Adams Oshiomhole.

The leadership of these two powerful trade union federations have been meeting for the past year.

The two federations are both affiliated and committed to the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the general renewal of the African continent and building of the new world order.

The theme of the bilateral conference was 'Building Strategic Alliances between South African and Nigerian Unions'.

Nigeria/South Africa Bi-National Commission

We acknowledge and commend the setting up of the Bi-National Commission by the governments of Nigeria and South Africa. We demand that the Commission include all the stakeholders in realising its laudable objectives. The task of building an enduring people-to-people relationship between our two nations must necessarily involve organs of civil society.

Socio-economic situation in Nigeria and South Africa

Our two countries face similar socio-economic challenges. The apartheid regime and military dictators have ravaged the economies of both countries through years of mismanagement.
The NLC and COSATU will intensify co-operation and information sharing with the view of maximising the impact of their interventions. We will locate ourselves politically within the South-South region and solidify links with trade unions from this region to ensure that: - globalisation does not further marginalise the underdeveloped and developing countries; the vicious cycle of poverty is a challenge unions are at the forefront of defeating; the carnage of HIV/AIDS is a key area of trade union work.

Productivity

Both federations are committed to improving the productivity of African workers and the competitive advantage of African products.

Both federations are equally of the view that there can be no improved productivity where the rights of the workers and their trade unions are violated.

Political situation

Through the alliance, COSATU is participating to transform South Africa from a country of inequalities caused by institutionalised racism into a country where there should be a better life for all.

The NLC played a pivotal role in the destruction of successive military dictatorships and continues to play an important political role in the transformation, reconstruction and development of Nigeria.

Both federations see the need to form strategic and tactical alliances between themselves and progressive political and civil society formations.

We see ourselves as allies of governments. We are aware that, while permanent opposition and fighting between trade unions and governments is not in the interests of our members, equally, a perpetual romance between the trade unions and the governments in a manner which compromises members' interests is not in society's interest.

The trade union movement as a broad social formation must enter into alliances and lead other organisations of the masses so that solidarity between employed workers, unemployed workers, the informal sector and the poor can be forged and sustained.

The best weapon against ethnicity and corruption is to build working class consciousness and to maximise this unity through common struggles.

The trade union movement must be a school of training and development of working class cadres who are conscious of the class interests they share as the majority in society.

Military dictatorships

Both centres pledged to observe 12 April 2000, the date set aside by OATUU to protest and raise awareness on the dangers of military dictatorship in Africa, in support of the call made by the OAU for an end to military dictatorships by June 2000.

Legislative Process

We are committed to interacting with the legislative processes in our countries.

We are aware of the advantages of working with government and business through tripartite structures on socio-economic matters. We are committed to strengthening the tripartite structures that exist in our countries and ensuring that they deliver to the needs of the working class.

We are committed to deepening our co-operation and learning from each another in the manner beneficial to our members and the working class.

Organisational renewal

We shall continue to improve the functioning of constitutional structures in order to improve internal democracy. We will continue to work for the complete accountability of elected and unelected worker representatives.

To strengthen the voice and power of workers we shall continuously consolidate our industrial unions into even bigger formations capable of meeting the challenges of the new millennium.

We shall improve and mobilise more resources for our education and training programmes. In this regard we shall seek co-operation of governments not hostile to our objectives in the area of workers' education and training.

Gender Equality

We are committed to destroying the chauvinism that traps our women colleagues into perpetual inferiority.

We are committed to creating an environment that will allow increased the participation of women. We are aware of our revolutionary responsibility and we see the oppression of women as part of class oppression that must be eradicated. Resources should be released for trade union education and training, not only to build the confidence of women, but to train and educate the trade union leadership on the politics of gender and oppression.

International situation

Globalisation is entrenching the vicious circle of poverty, unemployment, diseases and ignorance. The gap between the poor and the rich continues to rise, within nations and between the North and South.

We are committed to strengthening the trade union movement in our countries and playing our role in building trade unions in our regions, continent and the world. The syndrome and culture of dependence in many of our continent's national centres should be consistently attacked and eventually defeated. We will ensure a tighter co-ordination of our affiliates in the important area of building and strengthening the International Trade Secretariats.

We are committed to strengthening the OATUU. There is an urgent need to refocus OATUU to serve African workers more effectively, while also urging African trade unions to take more seriously the issue of self-sufficiency.

We are committed to ensuring that our affiliation to the ICFTU leads to the strengthening of the progressive forces within the ICFTU.

World Trade Organisation (WTO)

COSATU and NLC observed the increasing negative effects of trade liberalisation within the context of WTO on our respective countries. We call on our governments to press for the inclusion of core labour standards in the multi-lateral trading system (WTO). We insist that our respective governments must find ways under the WTO rules to adjust tariff levels, with a view to protecting and building labour intensive industries.

Affiliate co-operation

Affiliates of the two national centres agreed to strengthen co-operation among themselves. A number of agreements were concretised on how affiliate to affiliate and worker to worker solidarity can be taken forward.