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afrol News, 31 October - In its 2001 Survey on Trade Union Rights Violations, published today, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has documented discrimination of women and disabled at work in Mauritius. Also a hostility towards trade unions is noted. Although Mauritius neither ratified ILO Convention No. 100, Equal Remuneration Convention, nor ILO Convention No. 111, Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, the Mauritian Constitution prohibits discrimination on various grounds, including race, religion, political opinion, national origin and gender. According to the ICFTU report, "this is generally respected in practice." The trade unionists however point out that women are underrepresented in senior positions, and statistics from 1999 showed that only a quarter of managerial posts were occupied by women. There are differences between the wages and social security coverage received by men and women in the sugar industry. When export processing zones (EPZs) were first created in Mauritius in the 1970's, the vast majority of employees were women because minimum wages for women in EPZ's were 30 per cent lower than for men. The 15,000 migrant workers in Mauritius, generally from China, India, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries, face tough living and working conditions, including long working days and cramped living quarters provided by employers, the ICFTU report laments. While legislation requires all large enterprises to reserve three per cent of jobs for people with disabilities, no such legislation requires workplaces to be accessible. As a result many jobs are not available to people with disabilities. Regarding trade union rights, the ICFTU reports that occasional incidents have marred industrial relations especially in the country's export processing zones where it is difficult to carry out trade union activities. According to the report, "there is a great hostility to trade unions in the EPZs even if the labour law authorises freedom of association within the EPZs. Nevertheless, the rate of unionisation is particularly low." The Mauritius Labour Congress (MLC) claims that this is due to the fact that some employers have intensified their efforts to intimidate workers and have made it difficult for trade unionists to gain access to the workplace. Protection to trade unions against these acts of anti-union discrimination is low and ineffective. - The right to strike is hampered by restrictions, the report concludes. "However, lengthy pre-strike procedures and the right to call for arbitration make it difficult to organise strikes." In general, however, the ICFTU critique on Mauritian labour rights was mild, seen in an African context.
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