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12 December, 2011In November 2011, IMF Project Officer Suzanna Miller joined NUBEGW for a number of activities organised to prepare the union for its congress next year.
ZAMBIA: The main activity was a strategic planning workshop, where NUBEGW began preparing for the union's action plan to be proposed at the next congress.
Gabriel Phiri, General Secretary of NUBEGW opened the workshop with a presentation on the current state of the union, with updated membership figures and dues, recruitment targets and projections for the following years. The current leadership inherited a poor financial situation and has done a good job to clear some the outstanding debts, whilst ensuring that the union is able to run as a financially viable entity. One of the major achievements is the relative stability in leadership with a highly motivated staff at the head office and in the regions. This has allowed the union to focus on making gains for NUBEGW members with steady growth in salaries and improved conditions.
During the workshop, regional and national leadership worked together with the union heads of department in six groups. They discussed organising, education, occupational health and safety, the National Executive Committee, women workers, administration and finance and research within the concept of building a sustainable union. Participants then came together to share and discuss the proposed objectives, priorities and actions in each area within an overall vision for the union. The union will hold another workshop ahead of the congress to consolidate the plan.
Women workers also met to coordinate and articulate their plan of action for inclusion in next years Congress. It was agreed that the union has made some progress on the inclusion of women in the union but that more can be done. Participants discussed the requirements for more representation and participation of women in NUBEGW. This included needs for recruitment and retention of women members and a proposal for the inclusion of women in collective bargaining processes at all levels.
During the week, an excellent awareness raising workshop on HIV/AIDS was conducted for the union by Edith Maziofa, regional coordinator for the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme. The workshop agreed that HIV/AIDS workplace interventions by NUBEGW need to be strengthened, in order to be truly effective.