GOBERNANZA TERRITORIAL
2. La gobernanza territorial para los espacios protegidos
The company is situated at about 100 km away from the capital. The initial plan for its establishment was to operate an integrated textile mill in which the garment facility was to be one. However, the Government decided to defer the construction of the integrated textile mill and instead established the garment enterprise. Although the project for its construction began during the military government, the factory only commenced operation in 1991 after the down fall of the military regime. During the Transitional period, DT was one of the State-owned enterprises established as an autonomous entity pursuant to Public Enterprises’ Proc. No. 25/1992.
In the early days of its establishment it produced shirts, uniforms and working clothes from locally produced fabrics for the domestic market. The company was privatised in 2006, to a domestic entrepreneur. Currently, it is mainly producing export oriented uniforms and working clothes manufactured from imported fabrics. According to the General Manager121 of the
company, the principal market destination for its products has been Germany.
Union presence and density at DT pre- and post-privatisation
The company began operation in 1991 with 80 employees. Soon after, the employees voluntarily decided to form a trade union and all employees who successfully passed their probation period took up trade union membership. According to the information obtained from trade union leaders122 as the company’s market share increased, there was also a significant increase in the labour force of the company. Sometime in 2001, which is five years prior to its privatisation, the company had a labour force of around 550 employees almost all of whom were unionised.
Overtime, however, trade union leaders at the enterprise gathered the impression that the newly recruited employees showed less enthusiasm in unionisation. As the senior employees left the company through natural attrition and with the junior employees being less interested in joining the trade union, the result was that even prior to its privatisation union density was not impressive at the enterprise. In fact, at the time of privatisation in 2006 although the enterprise had a total labour force of more than 700, marginally just over half of them were unionised (see Table 3).
Table 3 Size of the labour force and union membership at DT pre- and post- privatisation periods
Number of labour force Union membership Union
density Non unionised
Gender mix Male Female Total M F Total % M F Total
Pre- privatisation period (Year-2005) 125 662 787 36 364 400 50.6 89 298 387 Post- privatisation period (Year-2009) 98 404 502 123 24 176 200 39.8 74 228 302 Post-privatisation (Year-2012) 80 418 498 124 24 162 188 37.7 56 254 310
Source: Records of the first level trade union at the Company
121 Interview with the General Manager of the Company in his office at Addis Ababa (27 August 2012)
122Interview with members of the trade union leadership of the Company was conducted in Addis Ababa, on July
13, 2011 at the Head Office of CETU.
123 32 of the employees (i.e. 28 female and 4 male) were fixed-term employees. 124 95 of the employees (i.e. 65 female and 30 male) were fixed-term employees.
From the table above, one can infer that there has been significant labour force reduction post- privatisation compared to the pre-privatisation period. The total labour force at the enterprise during the pre-privatisation period was 787 while this number had decreased to 502 three years after privatisation. Six years after privatisation the position appeared to have stabilised. This trend seems to support the proposition that labour shedding during privatisation is a short-term concern.
Although membership has been open to all employees except those in their probationary period, during the pre-privatisation period, union density was marginally in excess of 50 % (50.6%). Post-privatisation membership density had seen a reduction to 39.8% in 2009 whilst six years post-privatisation, in 2012, there has been a further decline to 37.7 %. It is interesting to note that this trend is consistent with the situation at company FT (see; Table-2 above). Another similar feature with that of the previous table is that fixed-term employment increased through time and the proportion of female employees in fixed-term arrangement substantially increased overtime. However, the number of female employees in permanent job positions is significantly higher in DT than at FT but still lower union density has been registered in the former.
Trade union leaders suggested that part of the explanation for the decline in union density was to be found in the employer’s attitude towards the union and its leaders. According to them, regular anti-union campaign has been conducted by the management team in formal and informal employees’ meetings organised by the employer. Trade union leaders recalled that there were times when the employer threatened to close-down the enterprise if the union began to interfere in the activities of the enterprise. Interference in the present context was understood by the union leaders to refer to request for collective bargaining which they believe is a legitimate union demand.
Conversely, the General Manager125 of the company contends that the trade union at the enterprise is not backed by the majority of the labour force at the company as can be inferred from the membership density. The union merely represents the minority of the labour force. The reason for such a low union membership, according to the General Manager, is that most employees do not approve the confrontational approach of the trade union leaders in their relation with the management team. Nevertheless, the General Manager stated that although they
represent the minority of the labour force, the management has no option except to deal with them since Ethiopian laws entitle them to unionisation and recognition for collective bargaining purposes.