Mozambique: ‘Strikes don’t solve wage problems’ – president

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Mozambique: ‘Strikes don’t solve wage problems’ – president

10:05 CAT | 31 Jul 2024

Photo: Presidente Filipe Nyusi/Facebook

Mozambique’s president said on Tuesday that paralysing activities cannot be the way to make wage demands and asked all powers for ‘sacrifices’ to correct errors in the Single Salary Table (TSU).

‘It is our understanding that paralysing production and productivity in certain key sectors is not and cannot be the solution to wage demands,’ said Filipe Nyusi during the swearing-in of Maria Isabel Bento Rupia as a judge adviser to the Supreme Court, at the Presidency in Maputo.

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Mozambique’s president acknowledged that there was a lack of understanding in the negotiations between the government and different sectors of the civil service that have announced strikes, but asked Mozambicans to resort to dialogue as the ‘only and exclusive tool for building consensus’.

‘Any other mechanisms will only contribute to exacerbating tempers and worsening differences,’ emphasised Filipe Nyusi.

The president also said that he has been following ‘with interest’ the dialogue between the government and the judges, who have announced a strike over their demands, and that he has ‘unconditional support’ for achieving the financial independence of the judiciary.

‘We must reiterate that the salary restructuring process underway in our country will require all of us, the legislative, judicial, and government powers, to make sacrifices to correct any mistakes that may have been made and to move together towards equitable salary justice,’ the president added.

On 17 July, Mozambique’s Government Association of Public Prosecutors (AMMMP) submitted a set of demands to the government, including autonomy and financial independence, improvements in salaries, and security for professionals in the profession.

‘Given the responses to the various interpellations to the responsible government entities and in pursuance of the decision taken at the General Assembly held on 6 July, the association deposited its list of demands with the government today, 17 July,’ a statement from the association said at the time.

The Public Prosecutors’ list of demands is being submitted to the government at a time when Mozambique’s government association of judges announced on 9 July a month-long general strike starting on 09 August due to the government’s lack of response to the class’s list of demands.

The judges are complaining about an alleged ‘depreciation of their status’ and flaws in the application of the new Single Salary Table (TSU), which has been strongly contested by other professional classes, such as doctors and teachers, who have even called strikes in protest at salary delays and cuts.

Approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state wage bill under control, the start of the TSU caused salaries to skyrocket by around 36%, from an expenditure of 11.6 billion meticais/month (€169 million/month) to 15.8 billion meticais/month (€231 million/month).

The TSU cost around 28.5 billion meticais (€410 million), ‘more than expected’, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) document on evaluating Mozambique’s assistance programme consulted by Lusa in January.

Source: Lusa