The UNI/DRC liaison committee welcomed a UNI Africa delegation to Kinshasa from 11 to 14 January 2014 within the framework of the UNI Africa/BBTK-SETCA project. The delegation included the UNI Africa project coordinator, Innocent TSUMBU and the regional coordinator of the UNI Africa-BBTK/SETCA project on HIV/AIDS in Francophone Africa.
Background
The project was launched in 2003 following the adoption of the 1st Resolution on HIV/AIDS by UNI Africa at its 1st Regional Conference held in Johannesburg/RSA. The project originally included Anglophone and Francophone trade unions. In 2009, following the adoption of UNI Africa’s 2nd Resolution on HIV/AIDS in Hammamet, Tunisia, the ongoing project only covered Anglophone countries. It was during the 11th Executive Committee Meeting held in Cairo, Egypt, in 2010, that the members of the Executive Committee decided to reintegrate the Francophone countries into the project, focusing on a number of multinational companies as the strategy for implementing the project.
An action programme was drawn up to complete the launch phase by the end of January 2014, in order to move on to the planning phase, to be held in the form of a workshop attended by all the national coordinators in Ouagadougou/Burkina Faso from 21 to 24 January 2014.
The aim of the project is both to raise awareness among UNI members in DRC about tackling HIV/AIDS and to recruit new members.
Workshop in Kinshasa from 12 to 13 January 2014
A total of 12 trade unions, members of the UNI/DRC liaison committee, took part in the launch workshop, facilitated by the UNI Africa project coordinator, Innocent Tsumbu and the regional coordinator of the UNI Africa-BBTK/SETCA project on HIV/AIDS in Francophone Africa, Jean Baptiste Kabre.
Project approach
• To determine each UNI affiliates’ trade union policies on the ground.
• To promote the same dynamic within companies, within the framework of strengthening social dialogue with the employers with a view to facilitating the implementation of their own policy on HIV/AIDS.
• Nationally, within the framework of tripartite discussions: to promote the same vision among employers, the government and trade unions.
• To educate (train), raise awareness, ensure free access to antiretroviral drugs and to recruit new members. Employers will then understand that the unions take care of all the workers’ concerns, trying both to improve their working conditions and taking an interest in their health.
Article 34 of the inter-occupational collective agreement in force in the DRC since December 2005 stipulates that, “The Parties shall encourage the creation of workplace committees to fight HIV/AIDS within companies and establishments. The mission of these committees will be to implement an internal policy to combat HIV/AIDS and discrimination against people living with HIV (PLWH).”
This project is funded by BBTK-SETCA (Trade Union of White-collar, Technical and Executive Employees), affiliated to the FGTB.
