HFPCWU – Hotel food processing and catering workers union today held a gender awareness meeting at Crossroads Lilongwe. The workshop is for two days. The workshop has attracted 24 participants from the branches of HFPCWU in Lilongwe. The leader facilitator at the workshop is the gender activist who is also the deputy education officer at MCTU.
Speaking during the opening session of the workshop Simiao Simbani – the regional representative of SASK for Southern Africa said he was happy to be present at this workshop. He also said he had brought good news and bad news. THe bad news is that the party that won elections in Finland is not labour friendly but as of now there are no cuts. The good news is that the people in Finland are happy with the way the HFPCWU is running the project. A delegation from hotels sector will visit Malawi in December.
The lead facilitator Jesse Ching’oma highlighted most bad issues which are happening in the industry. Womem should be empowered so that they compete favorable with their male counterparts. She highlighted that women are cable of performing well but some women are employed because of their qualifications but other means. Jesse said in developing workplace policies the union should be involved. The union should identify hotsports in their workplace.
The meeting will continue tomorrow.
