Trade Union Common Platform


National Trade Union Confederation (NTUC)
Mauritius Labour Congress(MLC)

Mauritius Trade Union Congress (MTUC)
Federation of Civil Service Unions (FCSU)
Federation of Progressive Unions (FPU)
General Workers Federation (GWF)

State Employees Federation (SEF)
Confédération Mauricienne des Travailleurs (CMT)
Federation of Free Workers (FFW)
Fédération des Syndicats des Corps Constitués (FSCC)
Free Democratic Unions Federation (FDUF)
Fédération des Travailleurs Unis (FTU)

 

 

Hon. Shawkatally Soodhun

Minister of Labour & Industrial Relations

Victoria House

Port Louis

 

This 25th November 2004

Dear Sir,

 

Following the publication of the White Paper on a new legal framework for industrial relations in Mauritius and the subsequent meeting held at your office on Tuesday 16th November 2004, as well as public statements emanating from you, we the trade union Federations united in the Common Trade Union Platform wish to convey to you the following:

 

1.       Given that in the last meeting, held on Tuesday 16th November 2004, members of your Technical Committee stated that some sections of the present IRA will remain in force in the new legislation to replace the IRA,  we are hereby requesting that you officially communicate to us an annex to the present White Paper stating all sections of the IRA that will still remain in force. You will agree with us that such vital information is essential for the trade union movement  to prepare its criticism and counter proposals to the White Paper.

 

2.       During the meeting on Tuesday 16th November we stressed on the fact that up to now we have not got any convincing and rational explanation as to why most of the core proposals contained in our 16 pages memorandum have been rejected in the White Paper. We are thus reiterating our request for a new meeting to be held for you and the Technical Committee to explain the reasons behind the rejection of our proposals.

 

3.       We wish to put on record that during the Tripartite Seminar held in July 2004 under the umbrella of the ILO on Convention 87, the trade union movement only re-confirmed what was stated in our common memorandum submitted to you.

 

4.       We wish to inform you that the trade union movement will be submitting a common paper containing our views and proposals to meet the deadline set by you, as we did in January 2004. May we remind you that it was the bosses organisation who was late in submitting its memorandum.

 

5.       The replacement of the IRA with a new democratic industrial legislation has been the focus and priority of the trade union movement struggles for the last 30 years or so. In the context of this struggle we rejected previous proposals such as the TULRA/NPPC and the Lim Report which was a complete denial and travesty of the aspiration of the working people to a new democratic industrial legislation.