Maputo, 29 Jun (AIM) – The Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA) has confirmed that discussions on the new statutory minimum wages will be held in August.
In previous years the minimum wages have been negotiated in March, at the Consultative Labour Commission, which is a tripartite forum between the government, the CTA and the trade unions.
Speaking in Maputo on Thursday, the CTA chairperson, Alvaro Massingue, guaranteed that there will be no postponements and that the discussions “will take place in a climate of concord”.
There is no longer a single national minimum wage. Instead, the unions and employers negotiate separate minimum wages for each sector of economic activity.
Massingue also wanted the meeting to discuss changes to the labour legislation and the diversification of investments by the National Social Security Institute (INSS) so that it may maximize its profitability.
Massingue claimed that INSS investments have been concentrated in the real estate, financial and banking sectors, with limited results in promoting small and medium-sized enterprises and mitigating the country’s employment crisis.
“We propose that a strategic debate on the diversification of the INSS investment portfolio be promoted in the context of social dialogue, prioritizing productive projects with a high potential for social and economic impact”, he said.
Regarding the approval of the private security and protection law, Massingue believed that private security companies are continuing to operate in an environment of job insecurity due to the lack of an up-to-date and regulated legal framework. He noted that the law on private security has been stalled in the country’s parliament since 2017.
Massingue said the CTA is also calling for amending the decree regarding the hiring of foreign labour, which employers regard as far too restrictive.
For her part, the Minister of Labour, Ivete Alane, said “It’s not uncommon for the Ministry to receive requests for authorization to hire foreigners. What happens is that the hiring of foreign labour can only take place in situations where there are no nationals with the required qualifications, or where the number is negligible.”
(AIM)
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