GOVT HAS TWO MONTHS TO SAVE OVER 9 000 JOBS
08/02/2014 07:05:00 BY SIFISO SIBANDZE
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MBABANE – Government is left with two months to come with tangible and convincing evidence that workers’ rights are now respected in the country or else face deregistration from AGOA.
AGOA is the African Growth Opportunity Act and it grants duty free access of specific products from Africa into the US market.
Concerned
According to the AGOA website, the United States remains deeply concerned about the government of Swaziland’s lack of measurable progress on workers’ rights issues, particularly protection of freedom of association and the right to organise, its use of security forces and arbitrary arrests to intimidate peaceful demonstrations, and the lack of legal recognition for union federations. The American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) said they were calling for the deregistration of Swaziland because government interferes with rights of workers.
The USTR conducts annual reviews to examine whether each country already eligible for AGOA benefits has met or made “continual progress” during the year in meeting AGOA’s eligibility criteria, which include establishment of a market-based economy, rule of law, economic policies to reduce poverty, protection of internationally recognised workers’ rights, and efforts to combat corruption. The review also examines whether circumstances in ineligible countries have improved sufficiently to warrant making them eligible for AGOA benefits.
The country’s apparel and textile industry employs about 19 000 people and about half (about 10 000) might lose their jobs, should US President Barack Obama decide to delist Swaziland from the list of countries benefiting from AGOA.
Markets
Most of the apparel and textile companies heavily rely on the AGOA markets.
Annual Swazi apparel and textile exports to the US lucrative markets are valued at E670 million per year. Should President Obama decide to delist Swaziland, the economy can again revert to its stagnant growth? The textile sector is one of the mainstays of the country’s economy coming after mining and quarrying. In 2012, the sector contributed 0.7 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as it was only surpassed by mining and quarry. Texray Swaziland Group’ Administration Manager Jim Wang said, the immediate result of the country’s delisting would be the loss of jobs in the sector.
Wang said 50 per cent of their market is the US therefore delisting can spell their closure of business in the country. He lamented that many Swazis might lose their jobs should President Obama succumb to the American workers pressure.
“The textile and apparel sector is one of the big employers in the country with about 19 000 employees and half of these jobs might be lost if we lose the market,” Wang said.
The Texray Group has about 5 500 employees. Wang said should they lose the US market, about 2 000 jobs could be lost in his company.
The delisting of Swaziland is set to be determined in May 2014 after the US government has conducted an interim AGOA eligibility review of the country assess whether it has made measurable progress on the protection of internationally recognised workers’ rights. The results of this review will be reflected in a recommendation to the president regarding Swaziland’s continued AGOA eligibility.
US President Barack Obama is under pressure from American workers who have called the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) which is the Executive Office of President Obama, to remove Swaziland from the list of beneficiary countries.
The USTR conducts annual reviews to examine whether each country already eligible for AGOA benefits has met or made “continual progress” during the year in meeting AGOA’s eligibility criteria, which include establishment of a market-based economy, rule of law, economic policies to reduce poverty, protection of internationally recognised worker rights, and efforts to combat corruption. The review also examines whether circumstances in ineligible countries have improved sufficiently to warrant making them eligible for AGOA benefits.
Countries which were once deregistered from AGOA beneficiary list include Mali. In January 2013, the president determined that Mali was ineligible for AGOA because of a government coup in March 2012. It was reinstated in December 2013.
