• Français
Find Your Local Union
Subscribe to E-news
 
Login
Scholarships
Contact

UFCW Canada - Union Logo

Canada's Private Sector Union

  • About Our Union
  • Media & News
  • Resources
  • Issues
  • Action Centre
  • Join the Union
Media & News

Canada’s leading union for agriculture workers welcomes end to sugar strike in Swaziland

Toronto – July 12, 2014 – UFCW Canada congratulates the members of the Swaziland Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union (SAPWU) on the settlement they achieved following a three-week strike. More than 3,000 workers demonstrated immense courage throughout the duration of the strike, standing up to intimidation by the military and legal action by the company.

The employer – Ubombo Sugar – is a Swazi subsidiary of the South African sugar giant Illovo. While the multinational Associated British Foods has majority control of Illovo, Swaziland’s monarch King Mswati III owns 40% of Ubombo Sugar. Mswati has deregistered the country’s trade union centre and banned political parties. Although Ubombo Sugar is immensely profitable on the world sugar market, the company used threats, violence and intimidation in an attempt to crush the workers’ resolve. However, the workers prevailed, winning a 10% wage increase and achieving the union’s non-wage demands, including improved benefits for seasonal workers.

As Canada’s most progressive union, UFCW Canada joined the call by the International Union of Food, Farm and Hotel Workers – an international federation representing millions of workers – to support the SAPWU members in Swaziland. Messages demanding the employer negotiate a fair contract with the sugar workers were sent to the company and its international subsidiaries. In announcing the settlement, SAPWU general secretary Archie Sayed expressed gratitude to everyone around the world who took the time support the workers.

In Canada, provincial governments such as Ontario and Alberta continue to ban agriculture workers from unionizing. For more than a decade, UFCW Canada has been engaged in an epic struggle to secure the rights of migrant and domestic agriculture workers. Together with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA),UFCW Canada operates 10 agriculture workers centres across the country and has achieved collective agreements in jurisdictions where the right to unionize for agriculture workers is officially recognized, including Quebec and British Colombia.

  • Media & News
    • News
      • Topics
      • Press Releases
    • Media
      • Posters
    • Subscribe to E-news

Media Contact

For media inquiries, please email [email protected] with the word ‘Media’ in the subject line.

  • Find our brand guidelines here.
  • Join the Union
  • About Our Union
    • About Our Union
      • Find Your Local Union
      • National President
      • National Council
      • Constitution
      • Union History
      • UFCW Canada Annual Report
      • Brand Guidelines
      • Join UFCW Canada
  • Media & News
    • Media & News
      • News
      • Media
      • Subscribe to E-news
  • Resources
    • Resources
      • Stand for Canada, Shop UFCW-made
      • The National Defence Fund
      • Migrant Members
      • Union Training & Scholarships
      • Member Discounts
      • Health & Safety
      • UFCW Canada Equity Grant Program
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Leukemia Fundraising
      • Political Action
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Social Justice
      • The Union for Agriculture Workers
      • UFCW Pride – Union Pride!
      • Young Workers
      • Food Justice
      • Global Solidarity
      • Uber Drivers United
      • Conscious Cannabis
  • Action Centre
    • Action Centre
      • Affordability for All
      • Violence is not part of the job: Respect Frontline Workers!
      • Make Truth and Reconciliation a paid day of recognition and remembrance
      • Paid Sick Days Now!
      • Migrant workers deserve permanent residency
      • End the Heritage Inn Lockout Now
  • Join the Union
    • Join the Union
      • Why UFCW Canada
      • Union Advantage
      • Union Facts
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Everything About Unions
      • Industries We Represent
      • Workplaces We Represent
      • How to Join a Union
      • Join Now

Login

FacebookXYoutube2Instagram

Copyright © 2025 UFCW Canada. All Rights Reserved
United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada's private sector union