Dakar, June 15 (APS) – The secretary general of the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Senegal (UNSAS), Mademba Sock, who died during the night from Friday to Saturday in Paris following an illness, left his mark on his compatriots for his uncompromising commitment to in favor of workers’ rights and democratic values.
Mr. Sock, called to God at the age of 65, was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Social Security Fund (CSS), at the same time as he headed UNSAS.
At the head of A single union of electricity workers (SUTELEC) in the 1990s, it fought in every way possible to ensure that autonomous and independent trade unionism survives in Senegal, in a context marked by “responsible participation”.
This orientation, which emphasized dialogue and compromise rather than confrontation with political power, was that embodied by Madia Diop, another sacred monster of Senegalese trade unionism, then at the head of the National Confederation of Workers of Senegal (CNTS) .
Mademba Sock was the proponent of another line, that which commits the trade union centers to maintain their autonomy vis-à-vis the power, an orientation which guarantees in his eyes their freedom of action.
He earned his stripes in the harshness of the ruthless, uncompromising union struggle, for the benefit of improving the living conditions of workers.
We had to hold this line, at the risk of compromising ourselves and distancing ourselves from the concerns of workers, while the country was struggling with the structural adjustment programs imposed by the Bretton Woods institutions.
The context being difficult, the late secretary general of the UNSAS very quickly found himself in the midst of the numerous social conflicts of that time, most of which reflected general unease and more than difficult living conditions for populations. .
His opposition to any privatization of Senelec, the national electricity company, still remains today an important moment in his union commitment, which incidentally earned him six months in prison in the 1990s.
B.K.
