2010 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Guinea

Population: 10,000,000
Capital: Conakry
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 138 – 182

Trade union activities were banned by the ruling junta until 28 February. Further to the massacre by the army on 28 September, the trade unions, like the rest of the population, witnessed a further cycle of violence and impunity. They organised a two day national strike in protest.

Trade union rights in law

Freedom of association is guaranteed by law, however several restrictions apply. The Labour Code allows all workers, except military and paramilitary personnel, the right to form and join trade unions. However, unions are vulnerable to employer interference, as the law does not provide for adequate measures to prevent anti-union discrimination.

Furthermore, although the Constitution secures the right to strike, employers can impose binding arbitration, and strikes are prohibited in essential services. In addition, the latter are broadly defined to also include transport, radio and television, and communications, which do not fall under the ILO definition of essential services.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2009

Background: The protest demonstration against the ruling junta on 28 September was savagely repressed. Government troops killed between 150 and 200 people, and there were many rapes. Arbitrary detentions and executions continued until the end of the year. On 4 December, Moussa Dadis Camara, the leader of the junta, was evacuated to Morocco after being shot at by an aide.

Trade unions denounce abuses at RUSAL: At a workshop organised in April by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), mineworkers backed by their unions provided evidence on the extremely poor working conditions at the Kindla Bauxite Company, a subsidiary of the mining giant RUSAL. A culture of outsourcing at the mine, introduced by management with the complicity of associates of former President Lansana Conté, weakened the trade unions and aggravated the poverty of workers and their families and the local population. Several of Kindla’s 120 outsourcing companies used child labour. The ruling junta has promised trade unions that it will accelerate the review of the national mining convention, a code outrageously biased in favour of foreign investors. RUSAL’s industrial relations manager was expelled from the country.

Trade union activities banned: On 28 February, the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) lifted the ban that had prevented all trade union and political activity since the coup d’état on 23 December 2008. Three days later, troops under the command of the Secretary of State for the Fight Against Drugs raided the home of Rabiatou Sérah Diallo, general secretary of the National Workers Confederation of Guinea (CNTG). The trade union leader, who has often been harassed and threatened with death in recent times, described it as another act of intimidation.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,ITUC,,GIN,,4c4fec772d,0.html

2009 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Guinea

Population: 9,600,000
Capital: Conakry
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 138 – 182

The Intersyndicale trade union coalition condemned the “dark forces” trying to undermine their fight for social justice in Guinea from the outside. Workers and trade union rights were trampled on in the mining industry. 2008 was year of mounting discontent among workers.

Trade union rights in law

Freedom of association: The Labour Code allows all workers, except military and paramilitary personnel, the right to form and join trade unions.

Strike limitations: Workers have the right to strike, but must give ten days’ notice, and employers can impose binding arbitration. Strikes are prohibited in essential services, which, as well as hospitals, police and the army, are broadly defined to include transport, radio and television, and communications. These three sectors do not fall under the ILO definition of “essential services” in the strict sense of the term.

No protection from discrimination: The right to collective bargaining is recognised in law. However, the law does not contain any measures to prevent anti-union discrimination or to protect trade unions against interference by employers.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2008

Background: A military junta took power at the end of December within hours of the death of President Lansana Conté, whose unpopularity had reached its height during the bloody repression of the 2007 strikes. In May 2008 the President had dismissed his “consensus” Prime Minister, Lansan Kouyate, to the anger of civil society and the trade unions. They saw it as a blatant violation of the 2007 agreements, leading to a suspension of trade union rights and activities. The agreements were on the democratisation and good governance of a country that has become one of the poorest on the continent, despite its vast mining wealth. The mining industry was shaken by several industrial disputes during 2008, with workers, their families and the local population growing increasingly frustrated at the failure to pass on any of the industry’s rich profits to the local level.

Attempts to destabilise the trade union movement: Following the 2007 popular protest movement which, despite bloody repression, had led to real hopes of democratisation, the Intersyndicale trade union coalition was faced with all kinds of attempts at destabilising it by the President and his supporters, by the employers, political parties and the government, one of whose tactics was to support yellow unions.

Eight union delegates dismissed during miners’ strike: At the beginning of August, management at the West African Mining Company (Société d’exploitation des mines d’Afrique de l’Ouest, SEMAFO, a Canadian group) dismissed eight trade union delegates at the Kiniero gold mine in Upper Guinea. The 330 SEMAFO miners had been on strike for over a month, protesting at the violation of an agreement with management on a new pay scale.

Bloody repression of police officers’ strike: On 17 June a strike by police officers was violently repressed by the army. Three police officers were killed and about 100 others arrested. The incident occurred a few weeks after 100 people had been injured in riots provoked by army personnel. In both cases their demands were about pay. The army was the pillar of the former Conté regime, and the President had quickly intervened with measures to calm the soldiers. Neither police officers nor army personnel have the right to strike.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,ITUC,,GIN,,4c52cae9c,0.html