Burkina Faso

In the mining sector, where workers are primarily hired through temporary employment agencies and contractors, those who choose to join a union are either intimidated, transferred or fired by their employers, particularly at the mines managed by IAMGOLD SA, Bissa Gold SA, Norgold SA, Avocet Mining or Andover Mining.
The unions also denounce the attitude of employers in the mining sector and their use of delaying tactics in collective bargaining. Similarly, the revision of the Labour Code has been dragging on for three years due to resistance from employers, who are not in favour of it, and mining companies such as ESSAKANE SA, SMB SA, SOMITA SA or SEMAFOSA refuse to renew company agreements.

Certain categories of workers in Burkina Faso, such as domestic workers, informal workers and contract workers, are not able to join a union, as they lose their jobs as soon as their employer finds out, according to the national unions. The same applies to workers employed through agencies and subcontractors. It is therefore impossible for these workers to engage in collective bargaining or to take strike action.

A peaceful march organised by over twenty civil society organisations, including trade union organisations CGT-B (Confédération Générale du Travail du Burkina) and UAS (Unité d’Action Syndicale), was violently quashed by police officers, who used tear gas just minutes after it had begun. The march was organised to denounce the mismanagement of the country. Several people were injured. According to the city council of Ouagadougou and the government of Burkina Faso, the march was illegal, because the organisers had not respected the deadline for receiving authorisation to hold the demonstration.

According to the National Building and Wood Workers Union (Syndicat national des travailleurs du bois et du bâtiment - SNTBB), employers use false pretexts to hamper trade union activity. The SNTBB reports that many employers refuse to grant workers time off, using the organisation of work as a reason. In 2017, SOGEA-SATOM, a French multinational, refused to grant workers time off to take part in an awareness-raising campaign on ILO Conventions no. 87 and 98 organised by the SNTBB, on the pretext that the company was behind schedule on an ongoing building project.

On 6 November, a labour dispute at the International Institute of Water and Sanitation Engineering (2IE) reached a climax with the dismissal of 15 staff members, including six union representatives. The workers and their trade union, the Fédération des Syndicats Nationaux des Travailleurs de l’Education et de la Recherche (F-SYNTER), had for months been denouncing “the intimidation and threats integrated within the staff management approach”. The management refused to recognise the trade union and tried to replace it with another structure under its control. It refused to take on board the adverse opinion issued by the Regional Labour Directorate regarding the dismissal of a union representative. At the beginning of December, the authorities finally recognised the legitimacy of the workers’ claims by announcing the overturning of the dismissals.

On 23 October, at the close of a strike launched on 9 October, 110 workers were dismissed or suspended by Exterhum-Africa, the employment agency that manages personnel on behalf of the mining company Bissa Gold. In April, workers from the Syndicat National des Mines et Carrières du Burkina Faso (SNTMCB), affiliated to the Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs du Burkina (CNTB), requested an improvement in their working conditions. But this company operating in six African countries and which presents itself as “a real alternative to direct employment”, “strictly respecting the local labour and tax legislation” completely ignored the demand. The CNTB and IndustriALL Global Union called on the government to intervene, to put an end to actions considered to be violations of the ILO Conventions on the right to organise and collective bargaining.

On 7 May, in Bobo Dioulasso, the police expelled strikers from the Société Africaine de Pneumatiques (SAP) who had gathered awaiting a legal decision expected that day. The SAP workers, who had been on strike since 13 January, were calling for the implementation of a court decision in their favour dating back to November 2014, related to a list of demands presented in 2011.

On 11 September, around 20 civil servants from the Ministry of Finance were arrested during a sit-in being staged in the capital. Several others were reportedly manhandled by the police within the confines of the ministry. The Syndicat National des Agents des Finances (SYNAFI) said the strike was being held in protest at the failure to respect a draft agreement signed four years ago.

During the coup attempt at the beginning of September, the trade union movement called a nationwide strike to mark its opposition to the putschists. By firmly and unambiguously condemning this attempt to overturn the rule of law, the trade unions emerged as key actors in the resistance staged by civil society. By mid November, however, employers had still not overturned the punitive measures taken against several workers who had responded to the strike call.

On 1^st April, Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida launched a verbal attack on the trade unions: “The recent turn of events - disorderly strike action, inopportune demands which are corporatist in name only, the occupation of workplaces and actions restricting freedom of movement - is clearly aimed at preventing the government from doing its work and, ultimately, elections from being held… All destabilisation attempts, wherever they come from, will, as of now on, be handled with firmness and responsibility.” On 14 June, Unité d’Action Syndicale (UAS), which gathers the country’s six trade union centres, responded to some extent through the speech delivered by its president, Yamba George Koanda, at the International Labour Conference. In November 2014, the Burkinabe trade union movement had welcomed the uprising in the country, hoping for a widening of democratic and trade union rights and a serious examination of workers’ concerns. But for the UAS, these concerns are being widely ignored by the transition government “… which is showing a negative face by openly attacking and threatening trade union organisations; exploiting and promoting small associations to the detriment of organisations representative of the workers, and openly supporting employers in their refusal to implement court decisions in favour of workers, etc”. In July, the UAS denounced the government’s postponement of a meeting with the trade unions that had been scheduled well in advance, the refusal by the Ministry for Territorial Administration, Decentralisation and Security (MATDS) to register trade unions following the requisite holding of congresses, on the pretext that new rules have been enacted requiring an investigation into the moral standing of their leaders, which, according to the UAS, appears nowhere in the legal texts concerning trade unions.

The Syndicat Autonome des Contrôleurs et Inspecteurs du Travail (SYNACIT) denounced the hampering of its mission and the intimidation of workers during a conciliation meeting in Boulmiougou (Ouagadougou). On 24 March, the director of a consultancy company, Flash Reflections, disappeared from the meeting for a few minutes to call the local gendarmerie. Shortly after, three heavily armed gendarmes came to arrest the employees. The labour inspectors fortunately opposed the move. This is not the first such incident according to the SYNACIT.

Trade union leaders and members of several public service trade unions arbitrarily dismissed or transferred in the last few years for their trade union activities have not yet been reinstated. Several court rulings in favour of unfairly dismissed strikers were not implemented.

The Labour Code has not prevented numerous employers from suppressing trade union activities, refusing, for example, the organisation of employee representative elections. This negative climate seems to discourage employees from putting themselves forward for election for fear of reprisals. Trade union delegates’ rights are often flouted.