25 March 2008
Maputo — Most Mozambican companies have not bothered to reach collective labour agreements with their workforce, according to a survey undertaken by the Labour Ministry.
A press release from the Ministry, received by AIM on Tuesday, notes that only three per cent of the 522 companies visited by labour inspectors over the past month had signed agreements with their workers.
A total of 26,772 workers are employed in these 522 companies. But in only 16 cases had the management sat down with representatives of the workers to draw up agreements regulating labour relations.
The inspectors discovered this disturbing fact as they went from workplace to workplace publicizing the new Labour Law, which took effect late last year.
The lack of collective agreements "shows there is a lack of dialogue inside the companies", said the Ministry statement. "This brings to the surface one of the main causes for constant instability and labour disputes, because the employers and the workers have no basis of mutual understanding to resolve their problems".
The statement said that labour inspectors have also issued warnings to 566 companies - concerning not only the absence of collective agreements, but violations of social security and labour legislation, including paying workers less than the statutory minimum wage, failure to record overtime worked, failure to register workers with the National Social Security Institute (INSS), lack of protective clothing, and lack of collective insurance.
The Ministry's present campaign, added the statement, "seeks to make employers and workers aware of their rights and duties under the new Labour Law, and stresses social dialogue as the means to avoid or solve emerging problems".
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