Mozambique: Government committed to bargaining between workers and employers

The Mozambican government on Friday declared its commitment to negotiations between workers and employers. Speaking in the southern municipality of Matola, the Labour Minister Ivete Alane, speaking on the sidelines of the traditional May Day march, stressed the role of workers in national economic recovery. She claimed that, despite all the difficulties, the country’s workers “remain determined and confident”.

Alane promised that the government “will maintain a posture of openness, dialogue and social harmonisation, based on labour stability and the development of the country”. The government’s goal, she said, is “to ensure the full observance of workers’ rights. That’s where we all want to arrive, at a situation where workers’ rights are observed to the full”.

Alane added that the regulations on obligatory social security are under review. Mozambican trade unionists have regularly protested that many employers do not channel their social security contributions to the National Social Security Institute (INSS). Employers who behave like this, are effectively stealing from their workers.

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The money has been deducted from workers’ wages, but then goes into the employers’ pockets, rather than to the INSS. At the Matola celebrations, the General Secretary of the National Union of Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Workers (SINTAICAF), Andre Manjate, denounced the theft of social security contributions. “There are situations in which the workers’ contributions have been diverted by some employers, in an act of bad faith”, accused Manjate.

“The government should investigate what is happening in the INSS”. Manjate added that the results of the latest round of negotiations on the minimum wage were not satisfactory for agricultural workers. The statutory minimum wage for agriculture rose by 5.74 per cent a month and now stands at 7.022 meticais (110 US dollars, at the current exchange rate). “We are aware that the percentage achieved does not satisfy us, but we hope that better days will come with increased production and productivity”, said Manjate.

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