The Trade Union Congress of Eswatini (TUCOSWA) is a Swazi

trade union federation A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

. TUCOSWA was formed in January 2012 and in 2013 had 35,000 members. It was initially recognised and registered by the Eswatini government. The Eswatini government chose to deregister TUCOSWA in April 2013, in violation of the rules of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO) (convention 87) that Eswatini has ratified. TUCOSWA is thus effectively an illegal organisation. Eswatini is therefore in effect without an overarching trade union federation, as the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions and the Swaziland Federation of Labour that formed TUCOSWA disbanded their organisations upon the formation of TUCOSWA. There have been several reports of police clamping down on TUCOSWA. South African Trade Union Federation

COSATU The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union expelled, ...

and Danish NGO Africa Contact started a campaign to lift the ban on TUCOSWA during July 2013.

References

{{reflist 2012 establishments in Swaziland Trade unions in Eswatini Trade unions established in 2012