Strengthening Global Framework Agreements for Multinational Companies (copy 1)

Negotiating Global Framework Agreements with its Parent Companies

The National Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers (NUCIW) represents the Zambian workers employed in the multinational companies in the commerce and trade industry such as: Shoprite, Spar, Choppies, Pick and Pay & Walmart group of companies to which their headquarters are situated in South Africa. The union however, faces numerous challenges in effectively representing the workers interests and rights in that the workers are subjected to unilateral decisions which are centrally made from their respective headquarters and that the functions of human resource department is deemed to be irrelevant due to prolonged official procedures, as a result, grievances take too long to be resolved and this makes it impossible for the union to organize the workers and therefore, workers have lost confidence in the union.

In this regard, there is dire need for the union to address such challenges through negotiating Global Framework Agreements with its parent companies, form Regional Shop Steward Alliances and National Shoprite Shop Stewards Committee to superintend the functions of union branches in the chain stores, this realization will help the union to administrate and manage the union affairs in solidarity.

For this cause, the National Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers (NUCIW) in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Zambia has organized a workshop in Kitwe which is expected to influence unresolved labor matters into the forum of the Joint Workers Representatives and Board of Directors of the company at their annual meeting as provided for in the Global Framework Agreement, collect data and submit reasonable demands for collective bargaining, use social media to canvass workers solidarity and net-working, reshape the operations of the National Shop Stewards Committee and engage management on the day to day management of labor matters.