Maputo Council Employees Go On Strike

Maputo Council Employees Go On Strike

Maputo, 23 Dec (AIM) – Employees of the Maputo Municipal Council (CMCM) went on strike on Thursday to demand salary payment based on the Single Wage Table (TSU), which has been in force for the public administration since October.

But there is enormous confusion over which categories of public sector workers are covered by the TSU, and which are not.

According to Custódio Luís, one of the strikers, it makes no sense that the Assembly of the Republic (AR), the Mozambican parliament, has approved a wage scale for all public servants, which in reality only benefits some of them.

“The employees of the municipal council are also public servants and deserve equal treatment. For this reason, the demonstrators promise to do everything to be paid based on the TSU”, he said.

Luís pointed out the lack of seriousness on the part of the council’s leaders, and also a lack of willingness to see the municipal workers benefit from this legal right.

“So far they haven’t told us if we have the right to receive our salaries based on the TSU or not, and what makes us even more worried is that many state employees are receiving their salaries based on TSU. What about us? What is happening?”, Luis questioned.

During the 26 years that I worked in the municipality, he said, “I only received 4,900 meticais (77 US dollars at the current exchange rate) a month and an additional 15 percent in risk allowance, but the amount is very little. After all, why can’t we get paid based on the TSU?”

Hanifa Muholove, another protester, explained that the municipality will not pay based on the TSU, “but it is not enough to silence over 200 employees.”

During the demonstration, the workers also complained about wage arrears. In some cases, workers have gone one or two months without any wages at all.

“The salaries oscillate. There are colleagues who receive and others who do not receive at the end of each month. Not all employees get paid on time”, Muholove denounced.

After a round of negotiations with representatives of the municipality, the spokesperson for the protesters, Alfredo Mahumane, said that everything is being done to solve the concerns of the workers.

“We spoke with our leaders, and they promised that soon they will solve our concern and we will be paid on the basis of the TSU. Although they have not promised the effective date, everything is being done to accommodate our concerns”, claimed Mahumane.

He also announced that the Council has promised to pay the traditional end of year bonus. Since this is equivalent to an extra month’s wages, it has become known as “the 13th month”.

On Tuesday, President Filipe Nyusi said the government cannot afford to pay the 13th month this year to workers of the public administration. Yet it seems that Maputo municipal council can afford to pay this bonus.

(AIM)
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