17 September 2009
Maputo — Seasonal sugar plantation workers, employed by the Sena Company, in the central Mozambican district of Marromeu, went on strike on Wednesday, in protest against a new wage scale that only adds around 100 meticais (about 3.8 US dollars) to their monthly pay packet.
The demonstrations turned violent. According to a report in Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", the strikers destroyed an ambulance and a motor bike belonging to the local Rural Hospital, threw up barricades on the road giving access to the sugar mill, and burnt part of the sugar plantation.
Four people were injured, and treated in the Marromeu hospital. According to the independent daily "O Pais", two of them were strikers injured by police bullets, fired when the police tried to disperse the demonstrators. The other two were beaten up by their fellow workers, apparently because they were opposed to the violence. One of these workers saw his motorbike destroyed by the rioters.
This is the second strike by the same group of workers within a month. In the first strike these seasonal workers demanding a wage rise, payment of a bonus owed to them since July, overtime payments, transport to and from the cane fields, and a basic basket of foodstuffs.
During this strike, the workers set fire to over 150 hectares of cane fields, destroying over 30 tonnes of cane.
By early evening, the Marromeu district administrator, Tome Jose, was heading a negotiating meeting with the striking workers, representatives of the company, and of the National Sugar Workers Union.
A team from the Labour Inspectorate left Maputo for Marromeu on Wednesday to try and help solve the problem.
A wage increase was granted after the first strike, but it did not satisfy the workers. The current wages on the plantation range from 1,612 to 2,207 meticais (59.5 to 81 US dollars) a month, depending on category. The lowest paid workers received a rise of 112 meticais, and the highest paid a rise of 92 meticais a month.
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