Ram Seegobin at the FCSU seminar on the IRA

11.08.2003

Ram Seegobin, central committee member of Lalit, and experienced trade union militant, gave an input on the Industrial Relation Act (IRA) at a Seminar organized by the Federation of Civil Service Union(FCSU) on Friday 8th of August. The FCSU unites some 20,000 public workers and is the main union Federation of public workers in Mauritius.

This Seminar was held in the context of the recent government amendment of the IRA to whittle away the right of public workers to declare trade dispute in the context of the implementation of the Pay Research Bureau (PRB) report . After unions outcries the government has now said it will call “tripartite negotiation” on possible changes to the IRA.

Ram Seegobin of Lalit has described this move as a recipe for no-changes to the IRA and even worst, as a maneuver to change the IRA in favour of the bosses. Bosses in Mauritius have been pressing hard for a complete deregulation of labour legislation. The recent Lim report, rejected by the entire trade union movement, is a blatant example of this maneuver.