Greek workers’ 24-hour strikes against draconian labour laws; stoppages in hospitals across France over pay and staff shortages; trade unions betray Spanish bank workers’ dispute, accept 2,700 job losses; Lesotho garment workers enter third week of pay strike.
Fresh factory strike looms
MASERU – SIX trade unions say they will down tools next Friday to press Labour Minister Moshe Leoma to gazette a new minimum wage for factory workers.
The strike will be a follow-up to one they held two weeks ago in the Thetsane Industrial Area where three workers were shot and injured by the riot police.
The unions say they will petition Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro and Leoma to address their grievances.
Speaking at a press conference in Maseru on Tuesday, , who is the Secretary General of the National Clothing Textile and Allied Workers Union (NACTWU), said they will not back off until their grievances are addressed.
Three factory workers shot at a demonstration Three factory workers shot at a demonstration
Nthatuoa Koeshe
IN another brazen show of police heavy-handedness, officers in Maseru shot at protesters with rubber bullets at the Thetsane industrial area leaving three hospitalised.
The three injured men were rushed to Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital where they are being treated.
The victims were part of a group of protesters who gathered at the factories yesterday morning to demand salary increments. Hundreds of factory workers yesterday downed tools and blocked roads in the area prompting the police to fire rubber bullets to disperse them.
National police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said the police had no option but to fire rubber bullets at the protestors as they were blocking other employees from entering their companies’ premises.
The programme targets GBVH in four Lesotho garment factories producing jeans for the global market
Levi Strauss & Co, The Children s Place and Kontoor Brands are funding a programme that targets gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in four Lesotho jeans factories employing up to 10,000 workers.
The project, which is unique in that it is binding and worker-led, will empower Lesotho unions, human and women s rights groups to effectively address GBVH.
To combat widespread abuse, the programme is providing garment workers with GBVH awareness training, a confidential reporting system, and enforcement processes administered by an entity independent of employer influence.
It comes after Levi Strauss, The Children s Place, and Kontoor Brands launched a comprehensive pilot programme to prevent GBVH in garment factories in Lesotho last summer after an investigation documented a deeply concerning pattern of abuse and harassment at a key supplier s factories in the country.