2010 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Burkina Faso

Population: 15,800,000
Capital: Ouagadougou
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 138 – 182

A trade union leader was sacked at Total-Burkina. Trade union activists in the civil service who had previously been transferred had still not been reinstated in their posts. Despite recent improvements to the Labour Code, excessive restrictions still remain.

Trade union rights in law

A 2008 amendment to the Labour Code brought some improvements to the trade union rights situation, and explicitly recognised the right to form and join trade unions. The new Labour Code also bans any trade union related dismissal. Although unions have the right to bargain collectively on wages and working conditions, the categories of public servants who enjoy this right have not yet been specified.

The new Labour Code recognises the right to take strike action, also to defend workers’ material or moral interests. However, occupation of workplaces or their immediate surroundings is not permitted, and the government retains the right to requisition private and public sector workers to ensure a minimum service.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2009

Background: In February, Burkina Faso announced the discovery of a significant quantity of offshore oil near the border with Nigeria. Heavy rains swept the country on 1 September, flooding 150,000 people out of their homes in Ouagadougou. At the same time, pockets of desertification were beginning to spread across the south of the country.

Right to strike frequently flouted: The protection of striking workers and trade union activists is being respected less and less. In the public sector, dismissed strikers were not reinstated despite court rulings in their favour. In the private sector, employers were supported by the Labour Inspector and the Regional Labour Department, as in the case of Total-Burkina.

Unfair dismissal of trainee clerks: On 4 March, the government announced it was going to dismiss trainee clerks who had taken part in a strike on 18, 19 and 20 February organised by the Clerks Union of Burkina (SGB) and the Ministry of Justice Employees Union (SYNAJ). Out of the 40 clerks concerned initially, seven were officially dismissed by the Civil Service Ministry. One of them was a woman who was at the end of her pregnancy and was on maternity leave at the time of the strike. At the end of the year, at a meeting with representatives of the two unions, the Ministry of Justice said it did not exclude the reinstatement of the sacked strikers.

Trade unionist sacked at Total-Burkina: On 27 March management at Total Burkina sacked Yacouba Ouédraogo, a trade union activist from the General Confederation of Labour of Burkina (CGT-B). The workers had stopped work for several hours because their demands dating back to May 2008 (the establishment of a collective agreement and better pay) had been ignored by their employer. At the beginning of April, the regional labour department authorised the trade unionist’s dismissal. The workers stepped up their protest. Three weeks of strike action and negotiations resulted in some progress being made, but not the lifting of the sanction against Yacouba Ouédraogo. On 30 July, however, the labour tribunal ordered his reinstatement.

Renewed attempt to silence trade unions in the gold-mining sector: On 30 April 99 workers at the Morila gold mine were sacked after a 48-hour strike. The mining company’s management claimed that the measures were the result of the international financial crisis. Ismaëla Marna Doumbia, the spokesperson of the Morila Staff Delegates’ Collective, believes the employer’s aim was to silence the trade unions, as the dismissed workers included most of the staff delegates. The strikers were calling for a redeployment of staff to avoid dismissals. There had been constant industrial strife since 2005 (see previous editions of the Survey). By the end of 2009, the workers’ demands had still not been heard, and the dismissed strikers who had lodged a complaint were awaiting a decision by the courts, due in January 2010. The Morila mining company is managed by Randgold Resources, a company registered in Jersey, which owns 40% of the shares, together with Anglogold Ashanti and the Malian State.

Sanction against civil servants transferred in 2007 still not lifted: Civil servants from the Union of Treasury Agents of Burkina (SATB) and the Autonomous Trade Union of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Agents (SAMAE) who had been transferred for taking part in protest action in May 2007 had not been reinstated in their posts by the end of the year (see the 2007 and 2008 editions of the Annual Survey). In a letter to the ILO, the government stated that the transfers were due to “human resource management requirements”. Several court rulings in favour of workers unfairly dismissed over the last few years have not been acted on.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,BFA,,4c4fec8a37,0.html

2009 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Burkina Faso

Population: 15,200,000
Capital: Ouagadougou
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 138 – 182

The various protests and marches held in February against high living costs and soaring food prices led to a toughening of the authorities’ response to strikes and workers’ demonstrations. The Labour Code was amended to broaden the right to strike.

Trade union rights in law

Freedom of association: The Constitution of Burkina Faso guarantees freedom of association for all persons. The Labour Code, amended in 2008, recognises the right of workers to form and join trade unions, with the exception of members of the army, police and other security personnel. Workers aged under 16, who are of legal age to work, require their parents’ or guardians’ consent to be able to join a union.

Collective bargaining: Unions have the right to engage in collective bargaining on wages and other working conditions.

Right to strike: The right to strike is recognised by law. The former Labour Code contained a very restrictive definition of the right to strike, considering any work stoppage that did not correspond to a work grievance to be illegal. Following ILO recommendations, the new Labour Code broadens this definition and establishes that workers can take strike action not only in support of demands directly related to their place of work but also to ensure the defence of workers’ material or moral interests.

The government still has the right to requisition private and public sector workers who hold posts deemed essential to ensuring the security of people and property, to maintaining public order or meeting the essential needs of the community. The new Code, however, stipulates that requisitioning shall be limited to ensuring a minimum service. It remains to be seen whether the regulations corresponding to this provision will comply with the ILO principles regarding minimum services. The Code forbids the occupation of workplaces or their immediate surroundings, on pain of penal sanctions. According to the ILO, this prohibition should be limited to non-peaceful actions.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2008

Background: The social climate in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries on the planet, deteriorated even further. In February, food protests broke out in major urban centres, leading to the arrest of 184 demonstrators, young people in the main. Around fifty of them were promptly condemned to prison sentences ranging from three months to three years. On the positive side, in March, the main trade unions and civil society organisations formed a national coalition to fight against high living costs.

Member of SYNTER arrested: On 21 February, at approximately half past one in the morning, the police burst into the home of Sanou Seydou, a member of the teachers’ and researchers’ trade union SYNTER (Syndicat des travailleurs de l’éducation et de la recherche), and took him to the police station, where he was held without charge for over ten hours.

Violations of the right to strike and to demonstrate: During May Day celebrations in Boganté, assistant public prosecutor Bruno Zabsonre, deliberately aimed his car at a crowd of demonstrators. In Gaoua, the town’s prefect banned the protests called for mid-May by the National Coalition against High Living Costs. In Ouagadougou, a number of employers threatened to take reprisals against their employees if they went on strike. Employees were requisitioned in several sectors to undermine the strike. This was the case, for example, at the national water and sewerage office, ONEA, where the requisitions affected almost 40% of the staff.

Arbitrary sanctions taken in 2007 maintained: Public servants affiliated to the national Treasury employees’ union, Syndicat des agents du Trésor du Burkina (SATB), and the union of Foreign Affairs Ministry employees, Syndicat autonome des agents du ministère des Affaires étrangères (SAMAE), who were transferred for having taken part in protests in May 2007, have still not been reinstated in their former posts. Several rulings in favour of unfairly dismissed workers have hitherto not been implemented.

Union leader interrogated: On 15 December, Tolé Sagnon, General Secretary of the national union confederation, Confédération générale des travailleurs du Burkina (CGT-B), was called in for questioning by the national gendarmerie along with three leaders from the movement against impunity (Collectif contre l’impunité). The interrogation took place two days after a march commemorating the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Norbert Zongo, the former Director of the weekly newspaper, L’Indépendant. The four activists were later released without charge.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,COI,ITUC,,BFA,4c52cafcc,0.html