ETM lays off 140 workers in Matola; needs almost half a million dollars for compensation payments

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ETM lays off 140 workers in Matola; needs almost half a million dollars for compensation payments

11:48 CAT | 10 Oct 2017

O País (File photo)

The Matola Municipal Public Transport Company (ETM) in Maputo province, southern Mozambique, has laid off 140 workers. The company needs 30 million meticais (US$488 or EUR 418,000 at current exchange rates) to pay compensations.

ETM administrator Eliado Jossias told O País that the carrier was reducing the workforce to 147 workers as part of a cost containment plan.

“We’ve restructured the workforce, laying off 140 workers and keeping 147. At this point, we’re focusing on profitability,” Jossias said.

Asked about the provenance of the compensations due to the workers involved, the ETM administrator said, cited by O País, that “at the moment the company is looking for support for the payment of workers.”

Jossias also revealed that the company had received four new buses, increasing its fleet to 16, while Maputo had received three buses and now has 60 vehicles.

The buses were provided by Matchedje Motor, a Chinese-owned vehicle manufacturing company operating in Mozambique.

In November, 100 new buses will arrive in the country, out of a total of 300 destined to reinforce the public transport fleet in the country’s cities.

Mozambique’s main population centres are suffering a serious transport crisis, with the general public frequently obliged to use open trucks for transport [‘My Love’].

Source: Lusa / O País