7 September 2008
Maputo — Contrary to a press release issued in late August by the luxury Pemba Beach Hotel, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, the Mozambican Labour Ministry did find serious violations of the country's labour laws when its inspectors visited the hotel.
That inspection followed denunciations of the hotel management's behaviour by the workers at a meeting held with Labour Minister Helena Taipo on 1 August.
The hotel management's press release suggested that all the accusations against the hotel were inventions by the Mozambican media. However, a communiqué from the General Inspector of Labour, Joaquim Siuta, received by AIM on Sunday, says that several serious violations were found in workers' contracts.
10 workers who had been in the hotel for several years, recruited under the terms of the 1998 labour law, found themselves faced with new probation periods of 180 days, after the contracts were put into writing this year. But the 180 day probation period was introduced in the new labour law that took effect in 2007, and cannot apply to workers recruited under the 1998 law. That law established a maximum probationary period of 90 days.
In this case, the employer had seized upon clauses in the new law that are less favourable to workers than the old law. The hotel had thus violated the clause in the constitution that bans retroactive legislation.
"The correct procedure", Siuta said, "would have been to put the contracts in writing, with effects as from the date the workers were admitted, and without any probationary period, since the parties already know each other".
By establishing a new probationary period, the employers were giving themselves the chance to sack the workers, Siuta pointed out, since they do not need to cite just cause if the sacking occurs during a probationary period.
Furthermore the 180 day probation under the new law is not for all workers, but only for those with at least mid-level education. But the hotel tried to impose it on its staff, regardless of their qualifications.
The same problem occurred with holiday entitlement. The hotel used the new law which gives fewer days holiday than the old one. But workers recruited before the new law took effect enjoy the holiday entitlement of the old law.
The inspectors also found that workers were forced to work shifts of up to ten and a half hours, and that workers were shifted from one company to another within the Cabo Delgado Hotels and Resorts Group (of which Pemba Beach Hotel is a part), without their consent.
Siuta said that Cabo Delgado Hotels and Resorts employs 390 workers, including 30 foreigners (18 of whom worked at Pemba Beach). But the quota system under the 2007 law allows five per cent of the workforce of companies employing more than 100 people to be foreigners - and in this case, that would be 19. Foreigners can be employed in excess of the quota only with authorisation from the Labour Ministry.
So the company had hired 11 foreigners illegally. To regularize the situation of these workers, the company would have to show that there were no qualified Mozambicans available to do their jobs.
Siuta warned that one of the foreigners would not be accepted under any circumstances. This was South African citizen Claudine Moodley who had been denounced by the Mozambican workers in the hotel as a racist. Siuta pointed out that Moodley's "racism and lack of respect" had been confirmed by members of the hotel's trade union committee, "and by all the workers at all the meetings held".
Siuta warned the hotel that its appeal to the Provincial Labour Directorate was null and void, since nobody can appeal to lower ranking bodies against decisions taken by a higher ranking one. Appeals against decisions of the General Inspectorate of Labour must be made to the Inspectorate itself.
Taking legal action against Pemba Beach hotel, said Siuta, "does not mean ignoring the investment made in that establishment, but what is required is that all employers obey the labour legislation".
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
