13 February 2008
Maputo — Mozambican Labour Minister Helena Taipo on Wednesday recognised that the slow pace of the courts in dealing with labour disputes is a matter of serious concern.
Speaking at the opening of a meeting of the Consultative Council of the Labour Ministry, Taipo said the government had been seeking alternatives to minimize the problem, by updating the country's labour legislation, and by setting up mediation and arbitration centres, to avoid clogging up the courts.
"Under the new Labour Law, labour disputes must be brought before a conciliation and mediation mechanism", she pointed out. "Only if this fails to bring about a solution, can the parties involved opt for arbitration or for legal action. This will not end the problem of the backlog of labour disputes, but it is an important step in the right direction".
Taipo said that last year, in its work of checking the implementation of Mozambican labour legislation, her ministry had undertaken inspection campaigns, in the building industry, in manufacturing, in trade and services, in transport, in the timber industry and in the banks.
This year, she added, the General Inspectorate of Labour should continue such campaigns, to ensure that labour justice and peace should be the rule in relations between employers and workers.
She thus proposed that this meeting should launch a fresh campaign, not only of inspection, but of publicizing the new labour law that took effect in late 2007. This campaign, she said, should stress "the promotion of collective labour agreements, which are the basis for the relationship and commitment between the parties involved".
The meeting will also discuss the new criteria for fixing the statutory minimum wage. In the past there have been just two legally binding minimum wages - one for agriculture, and one for industry and services. But now, under an agreement reached last year, the number of sectors that will have their own minimum wage has risen to 11, making the task much more complicated.
Previously, the negotiations over the minimum wage have taken place only in Maputo within the Consultative Labour Council (CCT), a tripartite forum that brings together representatives of the government, the trade unions, and the employers' associations.
The proposal now is to establish CCT delegations in the provinces, in order to broaden the discussions around the minimum wage.
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