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19 May, 2008
African trade union leader François Yao announced that a 34-month dispute between ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers in Electricity, Gas, and Water (SYNASEG) in Côte d’Ivoire and Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE), a subsidiary of French-based Bouygues Group, ended recently with a framework labour agreement calling for continual social dialogue and respect for trade union rights.
The framework accord was signed on 30 April 2008, after five months of intense negotiations between SYNASEG leaders and CIE. Yao, the SYNASEG General Secretary, announced the agreement at a 1 May, Workers’ Day, news conference.
“We have now opened a new spirit of tolerance and dialogue that will ensure harmony and cohesion within (our country’s) electrical sector,” he said. He termed the negotiations “difficult, but frank and sincere,” and credited Bouygues’ chief manager in Côte d’Ivoire, Marcel Zadi Kessy, with providing an atmosphere that made the draft agreement possible.
The union will now begin informational meetings with electricity workers across the West African nation in order to inform them of the accord.
The agreement calls for regular, quarterly meetings between the new social partners. It also pledges both parties to a common goal of profitability and lifting the living conditions of CIE’s workforce. And specifically, SYNASEG won full participation in the affairs of the Mutual Investment Fund, a fund established years ago for training, placement, and workers’ needs. It was the company taking unilateral control of that fund in 2006-2007 that brought the dispute to a near strike in March 2007. Workers make contributions to the fund.
The dispute itself began in 2005 when CIE began systematic attacks on SYNASEG. That was seen as retaliation against the union for its backing of a then government plan to renationalise the utility and end Bouygues’ 15-year contract. The ICEM had brought the dispute to both global attention, and to the attention of French social partners.
The ICEM commends both its Côte d’Ivoire affiliate and the Bouygues affiliate for reaching a framework agreement that will ensure social harmony. “We are sure that this recently achieved milestone of mutual respect and joint confidence will carry the SYNASEG-CIE partnership to greater rewards for both workers and the company,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.