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Realizing Decent Work through Trade Unions’ Participation in HIV/AIDS Workplace Programs

Realizing Decent Work through Trade Unions’ Participation in HIV/AIDS Workplace Programs. Christa Austin, PhD Candidate McMaster University, Canada. Outline. Introduction The Impact of AIDS Trade Union Involvement Barriers to effective participation of trade unions Recommendations

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Realizing Decent Work through Trade Unions’ Participation in HIV/AIDS Workplace Programs

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  1. Realizing Decent Work through Trade Unions’ Participation in HIV/AIDS Workplace Programs Christa Austin, PhD Candidate McMaster University, Canada

  2. Outline • Introduction • The Impact of AIDS • Trade Union Involvement • Barriers to effective participation of trade unions • Recommendations • Conclusion

  3. Introduction • Achieving reasonable working conditions in Africa especially difficult in the face of the AIDS pandemic. • HIV/AIDS primarily affects working-age people (ILO, 2004) • Essential to involve all stakeholders

  4. The Impact of AIDS • 33.2 million people live with HIV (UNAIDS/WHO, 2007) • Two-thirds (68%) of people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. • Southern Africa is most seriously affected whereby approximately one-third (35%) of people with HIV reside in this sub region

  5. The Impact of AIDS • Economy – income levels, affects GDP and production(ILO, 2004) • Society – survival of communities and families, sustainable productive capacity(ILO, 2004) • Workplace – productivity, vital skills, demand for G&S, health care costs, absenteeism, turnover, recruitment & training costs, and worker morale & motivation(Farnham, 1994; ILO, 2004, 2005; UNAIDS, 1998)

  6. Trade Union Involvement • Involving trade unions in HIV/AIDS workplace programs is important • Strong internal networks and external networks for government discussions (Heywood, 2000) • Already interested in membership’s well-being (Heywood, 2000) • Shop stewards and other staff can serve as untapped reservoirs of peer educators (Heywood, 2000)

  7. Assumed Roles • Trade unions assume various roles to combat HIV/AIDS in workplace ranging from advocacy to advisory • Advocates – promote employment rights (UNAIDS, 2006), duty to battle discrimination (BFTU, 2004; Knight, 2005; UNAIDS, 2006) • Educators - HIV prevention, treatment, and care, battle culture of denial (BFTU, 2004), train shop stewards as peer educators (Knight, 2005)

  8. Assumed Roles • Raise awareness – internal networks(Knight, 2005) • Trust unions because educators share similar backgrounds with membership(Global Unions, n.d.) • Widespread effects on communities – members educate families and friends with accurate information • Advisors – disseminate best practices, shape policies, advise governments, employers, and other unions(BFTU, 2004)

  9. Barriers • Effective participation of trade unions refers to the active involvement of trade unions in jointly creating and sustaining influential HIV/AIDS workplace programs through advocacy, education, training, and advisory endeavours so as to protect the rights and interests of workers.

  10. Barriers • Limited involvement in national responses and few trade unions have developed and implemented HIV/AIDS workplace programs(Cohen, 2002) • Noteworthy finding because AIDS directly affects members and families (Cohen, 2002) • Reasonable to surmise that trade unions ought to be actively involved in creating and sustaining HIV/AIDS workplace programs

  11. Legislation • Growing number of African countries have labour legislation prohibiting mandatory HIV testing and discrimination(ILO, 2004) • United Republic of Tanzania (Zanzibar), Zimbabwe, and South Africa • Human rights legislation, AIDS-specific laws, insurance laws, and disability laws can be leveraged to combat HIV/AIDS(ILO, 2004)

  12. Restrictive Legislation • Limited right of trade unions to cooperate with international organizations • Trade Unions and Employers Organisations Act – Botswana (Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2003) • Restrictive legislation compromises international coordination and obstructs external financial support

  13. Inadequate Legislation • Protect workers’ human rights with regard to HIV/AIDS - against discrimination based on HIV status • Botswana (BONELA, 2004), Mozambique, Swaziland (Chingore, 2007) • Most southern African countries do not have legislation that specifically outlaws HIV/AIDS-based discrimination (Chingore, 2007)

  14. Vulnerable Groups • Restrictive legislation that hampers the access of vulnerable groups to HIV/AIDS services • Women, children and youth, and criminalized populations (sex workers, homosexuals, and drug users) (Jürgens & Cohen, 2007) • Hampers capacity of trade unions to fully protect workers’ rights and interests

  15. Ignorance and Enforcement • Good legislation not very effective when workers are unfamiliar with their rights • Zimbabwe - workers were unaware of legislation on non-discriminatory practices and confidentiality(UNAIDS, 2006) • Only protects when enforced • Pre-employment testing still frequently occurs(ILO, 2004)

  16. Financial Resources • High costs of ignoring prevention, treatment, care, and support(ILO, 2004) • Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) - Community peer educator training (UNAIDS, 2006) • Political and economic factors closed program (UNAIDS, 2006) • Rwanda - HIV/AIDS teacher training • Expensive to gather teachers for training and communicate(UNAIDS, 2006)

  17. Human Resources • Companies encounter loss of vital skills and experience due to AIDS (ILO, 2004, 2005) • Productivity - senior or skilled workers replaced by new workers because of AIDS-related mortalities (UNAIDS, 1998) • Trade unions too can experience a loss of vital skills • Lose key personnel sap strength (UNAIDS, 2006) • Hamper transfer of knowledge, skills, and abilities

  18. Relationships • Commonly suggested that cooperation and trust among trade unions and employers are requirements of successful HIV/AIDS workplace programs (e.g., ILO, 2004; Rau, 2002; UNAIDS, 2006) • Little commentary on how effective participation of trade unions can be hampered by adversarial relationships

  19. Relationships • Adversarial relationships - unproductive conflict and antagonistic positions • E.g., HIV status used to deny benefits or screen out workers who test + for HIV • Higher prevalence of pre-employment health checks when majority of workforce was unionized(Ramachandran, Shah, and Turner, 2006) • Higher level of services and when replacing workers is costly • Employers defend management rights to hire and fire and trade unions defend rights of workers to voluntary testing

  20. Recommendations • Conducive environments created by employers and governments, available financial resources and strong leadership (UNAIDS, 2006), and cooperation and trust between stakeholders (ILO, 2001)

  21. Legislation • Protect workers and advance their interests, enabling regulations and laws must exist (ICFTU, 2004) • Understood and known by stakeholders – workplace training programs • Enforcement – govt. advise employers and trade unions, and supply technical information on compliance (ILO 2001)

  22. Financial and Human Resources • Supportive legislative frameworks not sufficient to support efforts • Study - almost all interviewees complained of insufficient resources (UNAIDS, 2006) • Employers - form business coalitions and alliances by pooling resources(UNAIDS, 1998)such as information, expertise, and finances • Study - trade unions often collaborated with other unions in the same occupations or industries (UNAIDS, 2006)

  23. Collaboration • Trade union support and cooperation led to success of many HIV/AIDS programs(ILO, 2004) • Trade unions formed sectoral alliances with Ugandan truckers and agricultural workers • Public sector in southern Africa built networks through unions such as Public Services International (PSI)(UNAIDS, 2006) • Several publications(e.g., ICFTU, 2004; UNAIDS, 2006)illuminate collaboration examples on local, regional, national, and international scale

  24. Collaboration • Whether in the industrialized North or the developing South, we all have a role to play: we can all take responsibility to protect workers’ and human rights - including the right to safety and health at work; to offer leadership and promote advocacy; to campaign for universal access to prevention and to treatment; to contribute to national planning on HIV; to provide information and education; to include provisions on HIV in collective agreements and in our own policies and programmes. We already have the structures and networks in place, and relevant experience in training, organizing and campaigning. Fred Van Leeuwen, Chairperson of the Global Union Conference and General Secretary of Education International (EI) (UNAIDS, 2006)

  25. Relationships • Combination of additional resources and conducive legislative environments is still not sufficient to support the effective participation of trade unions • Requires joint collaboration from trade unions and employers (ILO, 2004) • One company, 84% of workers underwent voluntary counseling and testing because of collaborative relations

  26. Relationships • Mechanism used to support HIV/AIDS workplace programs is through collective agreements (ILO, 2004) • Collective bargaining process vital to protecting workers’ rights and supporting programs • Negotiations focused on joint problem solving

  27. Integrative bargaining approach • Win-win bargaining outcomes whereby employers and trade unions cooperate to achieve mutual gains • Three steps: • Identify the problem • Search for alternate solutions and their consequences • Prioritize solutions and select course of action (Walton & McKersie, 1965)

  28. Cooperation • Cooperation does not happen instantly • Attitudes towards employers can be robust, specifically in southern Africa(UNAIDS, 2006) • History of adversarial relationships can destroy trust and make it difficult to rebuild • Both trust and cooperation are required

  29. Trust • The willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995)

  30. Rebuilding Trust • Ability - influence attained from a group of characteristics, skills, and competencies • Benevolence - based on the perception of trustors that trustees will do good • Integrity - beliefs that trustees adhere to acceptable principles

  31. Cooperation and Trust • Key to successful HIV/AIDS workplace programs rests on cooperative and trusting relationships among employers and trade unions (ILO, 2004; Rau, 2002; UNAIDS, 2006) • Governments can play a supportive role in that they have the capacity to regulate labour relations • Labour legislation in South Africa promotes cooperative relations between employers and trade unions (Naidoo, 1997)

  32. Conclusion • With legislative environments, adequate resources, and cooperative and trusting relationships, amount of effective trade union participation will likely increase • Social dialogue and workers’ democracy • Democracy must be participatory (Kester, 2007)

  33. Enhancing democracy of workers and increasing social dialogue will lead to greater opportunities for African workers to realize decent work. Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions and comments.

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