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Government backs down on labour laws

    JOHANNESBURG

    Swaziland this week heeded American threats of trade sanctions and scrapped a range of laws that “criminalised” trade union activity, news reports said on Wednesday.

    Swaziland’s Enterprise and Employment Minister Lufto Dlamini was quoted as saying that a new Industrial Relations Act eases restrictions on industrial action and “decriminalises” industrial relations. The new Act will also restrict government’s ability to block strikes “in the national interest” by forcing courts to issue banning orders. “The Act (now) proposes to allow employees who are not engaged in essential services to take part in peaceful protest actions to promote or defend the socio-economic interests of workers,” Dlamini said.

    The United States Embassy in Mbabane said it “welcomed” the new Act.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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