 Some more casual events as football were also included in LaRRI's 10-year anniversary festivities. |
 |
Pekka Peltola
Translated by Linus Atarah
LaRRI: Struggling for social justice since 1998. The text was printed on the back of the anniversary T-shirt of Namibia’s Labour Research and Resource Institute LaRRI. It correctly describes the thought for action of the centre and it is also being carried out in practice.
The tenth anniversary of Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) was celebrated in October 2008 in Windhoek, Namibia with speeches and seminars befitting the occasion. In the celebrations SASK emerged as the first of its supporters and was represented by Africa regional co-ordinator Simião Simbine. I was invited as a speaker for the occasion.
From its own works LaRRI has emerged as an important player in labour affairs, not only in Namibia but also in the whole of Southern Africa. Among other things LaRRI is in charge of a research network of African working life. Work commissioned by trade union movement and government officials as well as LaRRI’s own initiated research and studies have been topical, clear and of high standard.
Among the latest works is a study on the alternatives to the economic partnership agreement (EPA) that governs economic co-operation between the European Union, African and the Caribbean countries. LaRRI observes that the EU is unfairly pushing its subsidised agriculture products by threatening Namibia’s farm products with high tariffs.
Namibia’s version of citizen’s wage
LaRRI’s own speciality is fighting for the cause of Namibia’s working class and even more disadvantaged groups from the grass root level. Positively shocking to read is a report on the first six months of a pilot scheme on Basic Income Grant (BIG).
It concerns about a thousand people in desperately destitute situation who have settled on Otjivero-Omataran region at the edge of a dammed lake. There are hardly any proper houses, only knocked up huts from plastic, pieces of wooden board and metal sheets. There is no work and therefore no money either.
Instead there are kids but no money for either school uniform or school fees. AIDS has spread and treatment is a long bus trip away and there is not always money for bus fare either. Very often mothers and children go to sleep on empty stomach knowing that no food would suddenly appear from somewhere the next morning either. The poor’s only bank is the fellow poor, from whom they borrow perhaps a cup of flour. The government’s emergency programme brings maize and cooking oil from time to time.
BIG gives to this group of people 100 Namibian dollars, about 8 Euros a month. Everyone under the age of 60 receives that, the older people receive 370 Namibian Dollars as pension. There are no conditions attached to disbursing the money. Now the situation is monitored for two years and it would be found out whether the money is going to go into alcohol consumption or will there be some positive outcome.
On the basis of preliminary results, it shows that the benefits have exceeded the expectations. The community of the poor have already begun to supervise and encourage the use of the money even before the next disbursements. Sale of alcohol is forbidden on the day the monies are paid. School uniforms and school fees are emphasised as priorities. Small entrepreneurship has spread as debts are paid off.
Even though I do not support citizen’s wage in the Finnish context, the impact of a small amount of money in such extreme conditions appears to work quite fruitfully.
The Director of LaRRI, Hilma Mota, has written about the working conditions, wages and organisation of 25 000 maid servants. Their situation fluctuates but on the average clearly better than those of the BIG project who in the main are unemployed. The wages of several house maids fluctuate between 600 and 1000 Namibian dollars, i.e., between 50 and 80 Euros a month. They hardly have condition of service agreements and hardly anyone gets a written agreement. Abuses, especially the exploitation of working hours and sexual abuse are common.
There is a tremendous need for organising to protect their interest but the capacity to organise and fund a trade union is limited. For several years during the 1990s SASK provided support to the maid servant’s union NDAWU. Its activities progressed quite well based on the support. Then a controversy erupted between the leading activists involved. Now house maids are being supported within the framework of agricultural workers union NAFAU.
Unions have forgotten of their members
Trade unions leaders were not found at the LaRRI celebrations. The Second Vice-President of the Central Trade Union Organisation NUNW, Elia Manga read a polite well-wishing message and that was it. The cold relationship stems from the criticism that LaRRI has directed at the leadership that, basic issues have been abandoned by the leadership and that the needs of membership have gone unnoticed for years. Instead strikes and purges are organised as part of the ruling political party’s SWAPO’s internal power struggles and advancing the personal interests of the leadership. The leadership sits on company boards and continuously move to greener pastures. I have spoken about this myself. The consequences of that kind of activity can be seen in the weakened position of trade unions in collapsed Soviet Union and in China.
Markku Vesikko, the then SASK Namibian representative organised strong background work for the establishment of LaRRI during its founding stage. The current soul and engine of LaRRI, Herbert Jauch began by working alone. Now there are five other workers, all women. The pleasure of work can be seen clearly.
Herbert Jauch is somewhat a courageous, articulate and democratic leader. His capabilities are so obvious and his reputation widely spread that it is rather feared that an offer might emerge elsewhere that would be very tempting. One has to prepare for this also. One means is to broaden higher training for the trade union movement.
Within the framework of LaRRI one can obtain a diploma in trade unionism which 25 people were awarded last year. Right now there is preparation going on for a university level one year intensive course in the University of Namibia. The material is being prepared and the training is scheduled to begin in 2010. In the longer-term the objective is to establish a four-year intensive master’s degree course in trade unionism.
LaRRi has strong networks and it has especially tight contacts with Southern African Trade Union movement and research institutes.
Why should Finns be concerned?
Of the many themes of the tenth anniversary the single and overriding was the imperative of pressing on the trade union movement on its core task of fighting for the interest of its members. Basic work, defending of private members, securing wages based on work and conditions of services agreements, working hours and work security are all fundamental. At the general level there is a struggle against the consequences of globalisation, privatisation and the improvement of the position of women.
Through struggle results have been achieved: the latest achievement is that the Namibian Parliament has outlawed the use of labour-hiring firms.
I have been part of the attempts to form LaRRI a few years ago before its creation. That attempt floundered on the demands of the NUNW that LaRRI becomes part of its activities. The second attempt succeeded and autonomy was guaranteed with the formation of a foundation-type organisation. An idea has also been to create a smaller central trade union organisation, an independent 40 000-member TUCNA to join in LaRRI’s activities. Steps in this direction are still in the pipeline.
I am proud that my dissertation, The Lost May Day is used as a course book in LaRRI’s training. The book still appears to be topical in its analysis and conclusions. The binding of NUNW to the ruling political party has been harmful. The binding led to the fact that the party leadership became fearful of the trade union movement forming the core of an opposition party as has happened in several African countries, the last one being in Zimbabwe. For the same reason the trade union movement in the former Soviet Union and China were tied down and neutralised.
Trade union organisation is however not forbidden in Namibia. And so workers defend their rights with the help of the existing organisations and bypass from time to time leaders appointed from the outside. Namibia’s trade union movement has a lot of members altogether about 100 000, i.e. nearly half of salaried workers.
At the celebrations people wanted to know what difference does it make from the Finnish perspective, what LaRRI does or even generally, whether it exists or not. Finns might also ask the same question. I responded that Finnish working class received solid international solidarity from international trade union movement even before our own independence. The sums of money would have been large in today’s value. The support had big significance as internal solidarity always has, especially when supporting a weaker party. We have an honourable debt to carry forward the obligation.
