Workers
of the Gambia, Unite! Stand Up for Your Rights and Welfare!!
Once
again May Day is coming on Monday. In the Gambia this very important event has
been popularly known for the May Day sports at the Independence Stadium which
begins with a march past from Bakau Police station. This is followed by
speeches from the minister responsible for employment as well as
representatives of the workers union. The workers union would usually give a
set of recommendations for the improvement of the conditions of workers while
the minister would merely give a bunch of empty promises. The rest of the day
is then spent on sports and fanfare. Effectively no one cares about the
speeches because nothing ever comes out of them.
Firs
of all I want to remind Gambian workers that May Day or Labour Day is not about
sports and fanfare. It is a very serious business that came on the hard
struggle of workers since 1886 in Chicago in the United States in defense of
the rights and welfare of workers. It was on 4 May 1886 that workers in Chicago
first staged a protest to demand the 8-hour working day as well as condemn the
killing of workers by the police the previous day, May 3. During the protest a bomb was thrown into the
striking workers killing dozens of them. Since then several conferences and
strikes by workers were held in the US and Europe, leading to the declaration
of May 1 as International Workers Day in 1891 as a commemoration of the 1886
Haymarket Massacre in Chicago.
In
light of the foregoing it is therefore important for the Gambian worker to
change his or her perspective and approach to Workers Day, which has been
scandalously misused and abused by the APRC Tyranny. Since independence, more
so since 1994 May Day has been used to ignore the very conditions of Gambian
workers and made into a jamboree for Yahya Jammeh. This must stop so that we
begin to now focus on the very issues and concerns of Gambian workers and the
Gambian nation, which is the very purpose of May Day.
The
fact remains that workers of the Gambia are abused, misused, underpaid and
disrespected in all sectors of our economy. Even though we have a Labour Act
and other laws that protect the rights of workers such as the Women’s Act, the
fact remains that Gambian workers face poor and exploitative working
conditions. One just has to go to the supermarkets for example to see how young
Gambian men and women are being overworked and paid little. In the tourism
sector one can find the same exploitation of our workers as waiters,
waitresses, porters, houseboys and girls and indeed as cooks and security
officers, etc.
In
our GSM companies, banks, petroleum companies as well as insurance firms,
commercial farms and other companies the necessary incentives and rights of
workers are ignored with impunity. Furthermore, many young women are
discriminated against for employment because they are feared to get pregnant.
This can be seen even within the NGO sector and other areas. While our private
sector companies make super profits, yet the Gambian worker goes home with
pittance after long hours of hard work in poor working conditions. This is
unacceptable.
When
it comes to the public sector, our workers are hopelessly paid less with
horrible working conditions. In many public offices across the country workers
have limited tools and facilities for safety and hygiene. Poor toilet
facilities, poor living quarters, lack of Internet and lack of transportation
and other incentives remain major obstacles for our workers. There are limited
opportunities for upgrading skills. Yet heads of institutions, MDs and CEOs
continue to enjoy immense benefits at the expense of the rank and file of these
institutions and companies.
Incidents
of sexual harassment and unfair dismissal are prevalent in our public
institutions, private companies and NGOs. In many private companies workers are
not given appointment letters while their fair share of social security
contributions are not paid. Above all taxes on workers are so high when they do
not have the commensurate services and facilities that should come from their
tax money. In essence there are absolutely no safeguards for the Gambian
worker. It is therefore no wonder that numerous Gambians work all their lives
only to retire in poverty.
What
is even more painful is that Gambian workers pay social security from their
meager income only for it to be wasted by Social Security and Housing Finance
Corporation (SSHFC). It is obvious that SSHFC provides almost no services for
our workers. Their housing projects are so expensive that the average worker
cannot afford them. Yet it is because of the money paid by our workers that
have made the SSHFC the richest parastatal in the Gambia. Yet what do they
provide to the Gambian worker and pensioner?
SSHFC
has built no workers hospitals. They provide no subsidies to retired workers
for their medical bills while young or new workers have no incentives for
education, housing or capacity development. Yet we can all recall how SSHFC
bought Ocean Bay Hotel for 45 million dalasi and then spent another 260 million
dalasi to refurbish it in 2004. They also used our money to give generators to
Yahya Jammeh as well as built a useless housing estate in Kanilai when workers
across the country have no good living conditions. In some countries such as
Senegal we see how social security institutions build low cost high-rise
apartments for workers. Rather in the Gambia SSHFC has failed to do that but would
honour Yahya Jammeh’s executive directives to give away millions of dalasi of
workers money. We need our monies back!
Yet
despite all these abuses of workers and misuse of our resources, there are
limited avenues for workers to seek accountability and redress. The industrial
tribunals, the Ombudsman or the Labour Office have been unable to ensure
effective justice and protection for our workers. Meantime the sweat and labour
of the Gambia worker are being enjoyed by employers while our people languish in
poverty and destitution after decades of employment. This is unfair,
unacceptable and workers must unite to stop it. We need the labour laws to
change to ensure effective protection of workers’ rights and their welfare.
Hence
when we reach this year, I want to call on all workers to stand together to
stage protests and demand real change in the lives of workers. We do not need
fanfare and empty political rhetoric. We must put it to the government of Adama
Barrow as well as to employers in the public, private and civil society sectors
that Gambian workers and pensioners have enough of it. No more abuse. No more
exploitation. No more oppression. We want decent lives, better pay and better
working conditions. We want respect and protection and the fulfillment of our
rights and needs. Gambia workers are the foot soldiers who will develop the
Gambia. Unless we are respected, protected and empowered the Gambian worker
cannot be expected to fulfill their rightful role in national development.
For
this reason let the workers also pressure our employers in all sectors to
respect ad protect our rights. Review and re-organize your staff associations
to become true pressure groups in your offices, institutions, companies and
organizations. Staff associations must not only be for gala dinners, picnics,
staff parties and ashobi. We must demand real change in our lives.
Let
us call on our trade unions, professional associations and employee networks to
stand up for the workers. These include the GCCI, TANGO, GPU, GTU, the transport
union, the workers confederation, the Gambia Bar Association, the Medical and
Dental Association, the farmers associations, the public health workers
association and many more to stand up for workers. Let us draw up workers
charters to list the rights of employees and the responsibility of employers as
the accountability tools and processes for the protection of our rights and
welfare.
Workers
of the Gambia, Unite. We have nothing to lose but our chains and the whole
world to gain!
God
Bless the Gambia.
Author:
Madi Jobarteh
