Ralph Volcère new SLU president |02 March 2021

The press conference yesterday: (l to r) Mr Anacoura, Mr Sinon, Mr Volcère and Mr Siméon (Photo: Jude Morel)

Ralph Volcère, politician and editor of The Independent newspaper, is the new president of the Seychelles Labour Union (SLU).

The announcement was made in a press conference held by the union at the International Conference Centre (ICCS) yesterday afternoon on changes to the union’s executive committee.

Mr Volcère takes over from Peter Sinon who handed in his resignation as both acting interim president and secretary general of the SLU. Mr Sinon took over as interim president of the SLU following the resignation of former president of the Union, Alain St Ange.

Lawyer Franky Simeon is the newly appointed vice-president of the union while former high-ranking army officer, Edward Anacoura, is the SLU’s new secretary general.

SLU was launched in October 2017 as an independent body but was somehow linked with political party One Seychelles headed by Mr St Ange as president and Mr Sinon as secretary general.

Mr Sinon, who is still the interim president of One Seychelles, again following the resignation of its president Alain St Ange, said “the union now needs to build its capacity to face the increasing number of issues and uncertainty in the period that we are in”.

He noted that by relinquishing his post with the union, it will be more independent and therefore anybody with any political affiliation, religion etc.. can affiliate themselves with the union.

He claimed that SLU, albeit in the background, have worked to rectify issues for its members.

For his part, Mr Volcère stressed that SLU will be a totally independent union and will not be affiliated to any political party.

He said that workers of Seychelles are now in need of a strong helping hand and high quality of service with regard to the frustrating situation in employment and minimum salary wage.

“We will represent the whole landscape of the workers in Seychelles and our strategy is to provide the best possible representation for the workers of Seychelles which we believe has been lacking for some years now, without criticising anybody,” Mr Volcère said.

Mr Volcère stated that with the amount of work in relation to workers issues in the country, there is enough space for another organisation to help with the plight of the Seychelles workers.

He noted that SLU will be working to complement the work being done by the Seychelles Federation of Workers Union (SFWU). He said that SLU will go for negotiations and a strike will be the last resort.

“Our arrival in the labour industry, I believe, would be in the best interest of all workers in Seychelles,” Mr Volcère said, noting that SLU is for the Seychellois workers first.

He thanked Mr St Ange and Mr Sinon who started the union.

The procedures for the induction of the new office bearers of the union is being finalised with the registrar’s office.

SLU has six other members on the committee.

Patrick Joubert