Mauritius Telecom Workers Oppose Privatisation

Preface

At the request of OTSEA, the Overseas Telecommunications Services Employees Association of Mauritius, I represented the CWU at a seminar and visit to that country in September, 1996, the main events being a seminar on privatisation on 10/11 September, an assembly of OTSEA members on Saturday 14th September, and several visits to groups of Mauritius Telecom employees and managers.

Background

Prior to leaving the UK, the CWU research department and David Souter at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) provided useful background material. Other helpful sources included the ITN Factbook and the CIA 1995 World Factbook. The CTO material was particularly helpful in evaluating the island's telecommunications infrastructure.

The country lies east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean and has approximately 1.2 million of a population, predominantly of Indian sub-continent extraction with Creole, Sino-Mauritian and Franco-Mauritian minorities. The official language is English, but (French based) Creole is normally spoken. Hindi, Urdu and other Indian sub-continent languages are in common use, as is French. In terms of religion, 52% are Hindu, 28% Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) and 17% Muslim. There have been ethnic tensions in the post colonial era, but these presently appear to be very much under the surface. Tensions tend to arise more between groups of Manchester United and Liverpool supporters. (Man U graffiti is widespread).

In general, Mauritius has an extremely well educated population and workforce, many of whom are fluent in at least two European languages.

Historically known to Arab traders, the island was successively occupied by the Dutch, French and British powers, achieving independence as a member of the Commonwealth in 1968. Apart from some former British colonial government buildings (and a statue of Queen Victoria), the country "feels" very French reflecting the period of French occupation from 1720 to 1810. The main spoken language is derived mainly from French and the legal structures are still based on the Napoleonic Code. The Creole and Indo-Mauritian communities are descended from those brought to the island by the colonial powers from Africa and the Indian sub-continent respectively as slaves or as indentured labour to work in the sugar cane plantations which were, and predominantly still are, owned and run by the white Franco-Mauritian settlers.

Economically, sugar production has been the main industry, but, in recent years successive governments have deliberately tried to diversify into manufactured goods and tourism. Clothing manufacture for big name brands (eg Marks and Spencer) is a feature in the Export Processing Zone where companies are given tax and other "incentives" to set up new production units. Telecommunications has played an important role in this development and the growing use of telematics can give multinational companies remote control directly over the production processes in Mauritius. Globalisation of production, markets and technological application now mean that these new industries are vulnerable to predatory competition from low wage areas such as India and Pakistan as well as the capricious investment programmes of the transnationals.

The economy has expanded rapidly over the past decade and there has been a move towards a market based economy with the Stock Exchange opening in the Port Louis in 1989. The potential for offshore banking activity is being developed. These finance based activities require a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure.

Wages and living standards however remain low by European standards with vast differences in wealth and income. Housing quality is mixed, with many of the poorest living in shacks. In comparison with other parts of the Indian Ocean/Sub-Saharan Africa region, living standards and the quality of life are probably enormously better than elsewhere. That is apart from the air pollution problems caused by diesel and petrol exhaust fumes belching out of everything from huge Indian trucks and buses to the smallest Chinese mopeds, particularly in the capital Port Louis. In all other respects, Mauritius has a very favourable environment - courteous people and beautiful scenery.

The linked country brief by the CIA provides a fuller statistical account. In terms of the composition of the government, the brief was out of date at the time of writing. Prior to my visit, the Mauritian Socialist Movement government had been ousted and replaced by a coalition of the Mauritian Labour Party and the Mauritian Militant Movement, led by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam (MLP) and Deputy Prime Minister Paul Beranger (MMM). The role of President is that of Head of State and Cassam Uteem comes from the MMM.

The threads holding the coalition together were being heavily strained in September with a breach developing between the MLP and the MMM over the Prime Minister voting with India at the UN against making the Indian Ocean free of nuclear weapons. The situation has subsequently deteriorated with the shooting of three MMM activists at night in the Plaine-Verte Muslim region. At the subsequent municipal election there, the Hizbullah party got two of its candidates elected which has changed significantly the balance of forces in the political field as that region had previously been regarded as MMM.

Telecommunications

Mauritius Telecom is a state enterprise which grew out of the inland operation which was merged with the overseas company, formerly owned by Cable and Wireless. MT is one of only two main operators which makes a profit in Sub-Sahara Africa (the other being Botswana). Recent statistics show it to be the most efficient in the region with the highest penetration level, outstripping even South Africa's Telkom.

During the eight year period of 1985 to 1993, Mauritius Telecom had clearly developed a mass market, with the telephone becoming a social commodity. While still well below western European levels of penetration, Mauritius in 1993 had actually a higher level of service than many central and eastern European countries have today. The network was extensively modernised during this period, and in addition to having both analogue and digital mobile telephony, 100% of the island's fixed link telephony is digital.

More recent information indicates rapid consolidation of MT's leading position.

Indeed, from my discussions in Mauritius, it seems that the rapid expansion is still proceeding and that the true penetration level is now above 15% and hopeful estimates predict it reaching western European levels within two years.

The worldwide wave of liberalisation and privatisation means that the Mauritius government is being pushed in the same direction. There is already an analogue mobile competitor and, following a campaign by MT and the unions, MT will shortly have a digital licence. While this has been agreed in principle by the government, there was a delay in issuing the licence and during the period I spent there, MT digital subscribers had unlimited free access within the island using GSM handsets. In the warmth of the evening, adults could be seen with their children, paddling through the edge of the Indian Ocean, while simultaneously making or receiving mobile calls.

It is a very telecom and IT oriented society and the most optimistic of MT's marketing experts were overwhelmed by the immediate response from the public when their Internet service was launched in 1996.

As a company, MT is not greatly different from other telcos except in scale and in its very positive personnel attitudes. The CEO Mr G Pillay is a very impressive individual who seems to be installing young professional managers with a strong academic background and well versed in the dynamism of the industry. This is not necessarily bad news for the unions as they can now deal with managers who have had proper training in areas such as health and safety. The company also appears to have a positive approach to the trade unions and it is jointly hoped that this can be built upon, despite the threat of privatisation. The IR atmosphere is aided by a "left of centre" social and political fabric.

Sources close to the government and the company suggest that the preferred aim of both would be to ensure MT's future as the most efficient and dynamic public sector telco in the world, but the international levers of power are held elsewhere.

Telecommunications Trade Unions

There are three main telecommunications trade unions which generally have good relations and work closely together:

1. The TWU, the Telecommunications Workers Union, is the largest union in MT. Affiliated to the PTTI, it draws its main support from the engineering technicians. The President is Mr G Soomo.
   
2. The TSA, the Telecommunications Staff Association is based mainly on the clerical and administrative functions within the company. The President is Mr Dinesh Matabadul.
   
3. OTSEA, the Overseas Telecommunications Services Employees Association was originally the union based in the former Cable and Wireless operation. While the OTSEA's core membership was derived from OTS, it now takes into membership all grades and hierarchies within Mauritius Telecom. The President is Yusuf Arjanee who can be mailed at ameera@bow.intnet.mu.

Dual membership is not uncommon and rivalry tends to be friendly. The differences tend to be historical and appear to have more to do with presentation rather than substance. Suffice to say that the three unions are in principle totally opposed to privatisation and are actively seeking the means of securing the best defence of their membership, their customers and the national interest should plans for privatisation proceed.

The Seminar

The OTSEA Seminar took place in the Tamil Hall in Reduit, a few kilometres from the capital Port Louis, and a little more from my hotel in Flic-en-Flacq. The participants were mainly OTSEA members who had been given facilities to attend by MT. Representatives from the other unions took part, as did leading MT managers including the Chief Executive Mr G Pillay.

Speakers included the Hon R Purryag, Minister of Economic Planning, Information and Telecommunications as well as spokespersons from the Mauritian Labour Congress and other bodies.

My own contribution took up most of the first day using slides to illustrate the history of BT since privatisation, the decline of staffing levels, contracting out, new management techniques, the next steps in technology etc. All material familiar to the CWU (some of which is available online at http://www.btinternet.com/~donald.macdonald/tun1.htm and http://www.btinternet.com/~donald.macdonald/tun2.htm). Having gone through privatisation and having been amongst the first to use industrial action in a campaign against it, our experiences were of great interest to OTSEA. In particular, the role of the prospectus was examined in detail, as was the significance of the regulatory environment. It was generally felt that it would be helpful if the employee and IR guarantees were clearly stated in any prospectus and that the regulatory framework should have an unambiguous social dimension which took account of the national interest, the consumer interest (including the universal service obligation) and the protection of workers' rights.

The question of training in preparation for future changes was also a major issue as many of the exchange technicians are degree holders and there was considerable concern about deskilling.

The main conclusions of the seminar are contained in the OTSEA resolution are available online at http://otsea.intnet.mu/otsea4.htm. It can be seen from the resolution that OTSEA puts great emphasis on adapting to new technologies and to developing Mauritius as a telecommunications network hub and a centre of excellence in the Africa/Indian Ocean Region. CTO material relating to Malta as a Mediterranean hub was of particular interest to OTSEA who believe that MT should develop in a similar way as a high tech, multilingual focus between the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.

This sat well with the union's case for MT to develop a permanent training establishment with full time staff. By developing a training centre of excellence for the island and region, MT could provide a financially sound training programme which could derive income from other administrations and companies. This will be an increasing requirement for other telecom and IT companies in the region; they would also benefit by saving on the air and accommodation costs presently spent sending workers to Europe and elsewhere. Port Louis has the additional advantage of being a much safer and more pleasant place than, allegedly, many of the other capitals in the region.

The seminar was followed up by a General Assembly of OTSEA members where the seminar resolution was carried without dissent. It is the intention to change the rules of the union in order to allow OTSEA to recruit into the new telecom companies which liberalisation has fostered. OTSEA is acutely aware of the rapidly changing nature of our industry and intend to represent the new wider base of telecom and IT workers.

MT's URL is http://www.intnet.mu and OTSEA in now online at http://otsea.intnet.mu.

• Donald MacDonald
  
• President
  
• January, 1997

Appendices:

1. 1 OTSEA Resolution on Privatisation
2. 2 CIA's 1995 World Factbook report on Mauritius

Postscript

The Presidency of the CWU revolves annually between the chairs of the CWU's Postal and Telecommunications Executives. Since the annual conference of the CWU in May, the President of the CWU has been Kevin Shaw from the postal industry; Donald MacDonald is currently Vice President and Chair of the Telecom and Financial Services Executive.

Uploaded 4 June 1997

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