18 October, 2010
A third meeting recently was held among trade unions and community groups of the Fako District of Cameroon in Buea to promote trade union cohesion. Cameroon Regional Delegate of Labour and Social Security Marie Catherine Kalati Lobe has been chairing the sessions, first started in June, and the forums are aggressively tackling issues regarding transportation, agriculture, and education, as well as a current labour issue at the state-run Société Nationale de Raffinage (SONARA) oil refinery at Cape Lembeh Limbe.
Sector unions numbering about 12, some affiliated with the Confederation of Cameroon Trade Unions (CCTU), the General Federation of Free Workers of Cameroon (CGTTLC), and the Confederation of Cameroon Autonomous Trade Unions (CCATU), attended the most recent workshop in early October. They moved forward an agenda on the development of a common sense of purpose to enhance workers’ welfare and to improve the social climate.
Issues raised included consistent judicial delays on labour cases, the requisite standards for inclusion in a re-written labour code, and employer resistance in allowing union representation inside workplaces. Specifically at this month’s meetings, grievances were heard over the low wages and long hours of agricultural workers in banana plantations, lack of paid leave for support staff of the University of Buea, in contrast to the teaching staff, and the influx of clandestine transportation modes in Fako District, most notably by police and law enforcement.
Discussion also centered on the lack of movement in negotiations between management and the union – the Fako Petroleum Workers’ Union – at the country’s only refinery, the 37,000 barrel-per-day Limbe refinery that processes light crude imported from neighbouring Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. The state refinery, started with the assistance of Elf and later Total, is currently undergoing a large capitalisation project.