14 April 2022

ATUSWA STATEMENT ON THE UNITY DEMONSTRATED BY GARMENT INDUSTRY WORKERS.

When everything worked against us, when every employer who took us to court got their way and when it was apparent that being together was no longer going to be possible, we as workers in the Textile and Apparel Industry were inspired by the wise words of Joseph Ettor who said “If the workers of the world want to win, all they have to do is recognize their own solidarity. They have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of the capitalists”. It was this fundamental recognition of our strength that propelled us forward.

The realization that the employers have done all they could to kill the voice of the workers, which included getting court orders, literally banning meetings and demonstrations but we still remain united; so determined to forge ahead and in response to court banning gatherings after seven (7) days of mass demonstrations, we decided in pursuant of our E15 per hour demand, in complete trust of one another to stay-away from work until employers give in to what we NEED. Today were are on day three (3) of a mass stay-away and we shall return to work only and when our employers have met our demands. True to the Ethiopian proverb which says “When spiders unite, they can tie down a lion” we have realized that when we unite, it is the day we stop becoming victims. In one voice the workers maintain that they are willing to go to any length in order to get a fair share of the profits.

As we go to Easter Holidays we call on all employers to constructively engage our organization which remain the ONLY workers’ choice in the Textile and Apparel Industry for a lasting solution, recognizing the needs of workers and that of the businesses. We recognize the financial blow faced by the affected companies and it is on this basis that the leadership has decided to avail itself wherever and whenever the employers want to chart a way forward.

We call on all our members to remain calm and united. We shall continue engaging those that are suspected to be weak constructively so that when we return back to work they are not humiliated in a manner that they would not be in a position to continue working. Our primal enemies remain the employers who refuse to recognize us as human beings, government which remain complacent to our suffering and some regressive courts which perpetuate the rule of unjust law. As we deal with other workers who seem weak, we must always remember that they are also victims of an unjust society and are used as pawns by our cruel masters. To the weak we say, the weaker we feel the harder we may learn.

We call on TUCOSWA to lead and fast-track the campaign for a National Minimum Wage as living expenses spirals out of control. As we are engaged in this struggle with the garment workers we are receiving a lot of complains from workers are fed-up of toiling in misery yet they are employed. We shall not continue to sit-back when workers earn as little as dehumanizing E1000 per month.

We wish to remind our members as they go to Easter Holidays that the life of Jesus taught us that the most intense pleasure and or happiness comes after a prolonged struggle. In parting we want to say nothing will ever withstand the will of the workers.

The Struggle Continues!!!!!!

AMANDLA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Issued by

Wander Mkhonza, ATUSWA Secretary General (+268 76353310)

On behalf of the NOBs