Anna Berghäll
Translated by Linus Atarah
Tanzania's cut flower industry is trying to hold its turf against Ethiopia's cheap labour. - A strong union does not mean weak management", says Omari Mshana, head of department of agricultural workers union TPAWU. Driving towards Kilimanjaro from Arusha, there is a huge field on the left side of the road. There are greenhouses on the field stretching as far as the eyes can see and next to them are still new ones rising. Kiliflora is expanding: seven hectares of cultivated land will be doubled this year.
The production of cutflowers by African countries has increased as the sale of flowers has become widespread in supermarkets. According to a study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) supermarkets want to buy direct without intermediaries such as Dutch flower wholesalers.
Flowers from Africa are cheap and their producers generally more willing to accept price offers from buyers. Due to ideal production conditions African producers are capable of producing needed large quantities throughout the year.
More and more European retailers import their flowers from Africa, to be precise East Africa which is sometimes dubbed "Europes garden". In 2000, 43 per cent of flowers into the European Union came from sub-Saharan Africa. Flowers are produced especially in Kenya, but also Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and increasingly in Ethiopia.
- Many firms have already relocated to Ethiopia because the trade union movement there is weak and labour is cheap. It is also nearer to markets than East Africa and the government entices companies with for example ten-year tax holidays. The flower industry is not going to grow in Tanzania, forecasts
Yahya Msangi. He is responsible for the issues of occupational health and work security in Tanzania's plantation and agricultural workers union, TPAWU.
In Tanzania about 5 000 people work in the flower industry, 80 per cent of them women. The average wage in Tanzania is 45-48 dollars a month, in Ethiopia only seven dollars.
Compulsory collective agreements this year
Problems of flowers production are also familiar in Tanzania. According to Msangi the biggest problem is the use of insecticides. Salaries are small and the workers in the female-dominated trade is often treated poorly: no maternity leave and sexual harassment is commonplace.
However, so gloomy a situation is not found on every farm. I was able to have a look at Kiliflora's Loliondo field which seems almost too good to be true. Kiliflora exports flowers nearly to every European country and fair trade roses to Nordic countries except Finland.
Wages are higher than government approved minimum wage, paid maternity holiday for 84 days, one-and-half hours lunch break and the employer provides breakfast and lunch. But Kilifora is also the second flower producer where there is an existing collectively negotiated work agreement. The other is Hortanzia.
- Up till now collective bargaining agreements have been voluntary according to Tanzanian labour legislation. A new law will come into force this year and collective bargaining agreements will be mandatory, explains Yahya Msangi.
Negotiations began with Kiliflora because the atmosphere is favourable. The previous general manager, Dutchman Jerome Bruin has lived in Tanzania for many years and understands the concerns of workers. The collective agreement came into force in 2003 and in the same year Kiliflora was voted the best employer of the year.
However in 2005 Kiliflora got involved in a bad crisis. Distrust between workers and managers led to the removal of the Indian middle level management and the general manager resigned.
- The middle level management behaved inappropriately towards workers for a long time and did not send forward workers' wishes at which point our only possibility was to give an ultimatum. We presented a list of issues that had to be rectified within 30 days or we would embark on a strike action, says Omari Mshana, president of TPAWU in Kiliflora.
Interpreting labour legislation is most important
Mshana is satisfied with the present management. The new general manager Nick Stubbs of South Africa speaks like a freshly graduated university idealist but has been working in Kiliflora since 1993, as chief of customer relations before becoming managing director. Stubbs' speech is teeming with concepts like "community support", "caring", "stable society" and "the needs of the villagers".
- Tanzania is still being transformed into an industrial society. There are examples from other societies which indicate that it doesn't necessarily become a peaceful process if workers' rights are not taken care of. I strongly believe that a well-earning middle class is a guarantee to a stable society. If people have something to lose such as an own house or good schools for their children, they don't easily seize a weapon and go rebelling, Stubbs envisions.
Tanzania has a reputation as a peaceful neighbour to crises-ridden Kongo, Rwanda and Burundi, but some social scientists warn that continuous poverty there might similarly lead to unrests.
Unemployment is a big problem and Kiliflora is doing what it can to ameliorate it, says Stubbs. There are about 900 permanent workers on its two flower fields. Unskilled temporary workers are needed for instance during the peak seasons and they are chosen by lots: the names of job applicants are selected from a hat whereby everyone has an equal opportunity to get hired.
- We also organize a few courses according to our needs for work force. When a person has attended a driving school, an English language or computer course, he or she is stands a better chance of getting a job with us.
The union also has its training tasks. According to Omari Mshana, Tanzania's trade unions' most important task is to interpret the law to workers who do not know their rights. TPAWU has in the last years placed a lot of emphasis on training regional representatives. Raising difficult issues with foreign management is difficult with a weak education level and, for instance poor English language skills.
"Salary is the biggest problem"
As the episode of the firing of the India bosses indicates TPAWU is a strong union and the capability of its Kilifora branch is rock solid. Seventy-five per cent of Kiliflora's workers belong to TPAWU.
According to Omari Mshana a trade union is for both the management and workers. His message to management is that a strong union does not mean a weak management.
In return for better treatment, union leaders urge workers to harder. It helps in negotiations - "and we are here to produce roses", says Mshana.
In other farms the situation is much worse than the two farms where collective bargaining agreements are in place. For instance organizing a trade union which in principle is easy - starting a branch needs ten signatures - becomes difficult if the employer decides to always fire the last person on the list, whereby getting the required ten is never realized.
The goal of TPAWU is to secure a single collective agreement for the whole of the cut flower sector. At the moment the existing agreements are separate though 90 per cent of Hortanz's agreement is copied from that of Kiliflower.
Salary is the biggest problem at the moment. Kiliflower pays higher than the required government minimum wage. A beginning worker receives 43 000 shillings in a month and in addition 100 000 shillings for starting a home. The last time minimum wage was legislated was in 2002 and it is 35 000 shillings a month. Yet the wage Kiliflower pays is insufficient for a living, says Mshana.
A litre of petrol costs 14 000 shillings in Tanzania and for instance, a dozen eggs costs 800 shillings. In relation to Finland a dozen eggs would cost 46 Euros while the average salary is 2,500 and using the wage paid by Kiliflower as comparison.
- I know that one who is defending workers' rights does not always achieve 100 per cent of what one wants. However, salary is an issue in which we hope to achieve improvements hopefully already this year, says Tikisael S. Mbise, secretary of Kiliflowers' womens' committee.
Special rosy existence
Women's committee: No moon from the sky
Enough work on flower farms - also for trade unions
