'Hidden Debts': Judge orders release of confidential documents - AIM report
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The secretary general of the Mozambican Workers Organisation (OTM), said yesterday that the organisation would “vigorously oppose” employers’ proposals to freeze wage increases and the 13th salary in 2018.
“We strongly reject the proposal. We will fight it vigorously, because it should not be the poor workers who pay the bill for the crisis,” Alexandre Munguambe told Lusa.
He pointed out that Mozambican workers had seen their purchasing power whittled away through high inflation and other factors related to the crisis.
“Workers have lost more than half of their salary to the economic situation, and asking them for more sacrifices would be inhumane,” Munguambe stressed.
Businesses and the government, he continued, should identify other place for cuts because wages werenot the only cost factors in the business structure.
“Instead of buying Mercedes, they should buy cars that are more suited to the situation in the country and instead of holding meetings in luxury tourist resorts, let them hold them on the premises of the companies themselves or the ministries, in the case of the government,” he added.
The OTM secretary general decried the fact that the president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) was proposing freezing wages and the 13th salary without having taken it to the Advisory Committee on Labour (CCT) for discussion between unions, government and employers.
Also Read: Head of employers’ confederation calls for wage freeze – AIM report
“We will pay the 13th wherever possible” – Minister of Economy and Finance
Munguambe told Lusa that workers would not tolerate payment of only half of the 13th salary, as happened last year.
“We will not tolerate this cut, as happened last year. The government decided on this unilaterally, even though it sits on the CCT,” Munguambe said.
Speaking during the Fifth Business Environment Monitoring Council, bringing together the private sector, government and cooperation sectors last Friday in Maputo, the chairman of the country’s largest employers’ association said: “In the face of the austerity of public expenditure, we need to go deep into the reforms, to address the imbalances, introducing measures such as the freezing of salary increases in 2018 and suspending the 13th month.”
Vuma also advocated the freezing of automatic subsidies and others perks, and freezing automatic promotions for civil servants and the acquisition of high-value goods.
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