MITESS fines Pemba hotel for breaking labour law, suspends illegal foreign workers – Mozambique

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MITESS fines Pemba hotel for breaking labour law, suspends illegal foreign workers – Mozambique

3:32 CAT | 02 Aug 2016

File photo / The building of MITESS, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security in Maputo

The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (MITESS) has fined the Raphael’s Hotel, in Pemba, Cabo Delgado province, for infringements including the illegal employment of foreign nationals and paying less than the minimum wage approved by the government for the sector.

The Raphael’s Hotel currently employs 73 workers, including five foreign nationals. Of the foreign nationals, only one was shown to be legally employed.

“There was no collective agreement with the workers, no insurance against accidents at work, mandatory working hours were not observed, workers’ files were not up to date, there was no overtime record book, and 30 of its 73 workers were not registered in the national social security system, the statement said.

MITESS says the irregularities were ascertained during verification visits to assess labour law compliance.

“The hotel’s problems were already familiar to the Deputy Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Osvaldo Petersburg, who visited the region last year, and at the time instructed the authorities to do a thorough job because the hotel had not reported the start of its activities and had worked sub rosa since 2015,” the statement explains.

“It was in this context that a taskforce made up of the Provincial Directorate of Labour, Employment and Social Security and the Cabo Delgado Provincial Secretary of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, Tourism and Similar Workers visited the establishment and found the irregularities, both legal and social, including the lack of observance of safety-at-work regulations,” the statement goes on to say.

MITESS says the taskforce also investigated complaints of ill-treatment by a Chinese national hired by the hotel, who was found to be working in Mozambique illegally and was suspended immediately. The company will be fined under national labour law.

“However, the inspection taskforce found hygiene and cleaning at the hotel were good,” says the note, stressing that “sanctions were motivated by the hotel as an employer failing to act, despite several educational initiatives by the inspectorate, especially regarding employment of illegal workers and the lack of contracts”.

Source: AIM