Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, Teresa Dias, considered the number of children involved in child labor to be worrying and said that work is being done on the diagnosis to define policies to reduce the phenomenon.
Speaking at the meeting of experts that precedes the meeting of the ministers of Employment and Labor, as well as SADC social partners, which takes place in Lubango, Huíla province, the minister stated, without presenting statistical data, that the most critical provinces are the from Cuando Cubango, Lunda-Norte, Lunda-Sul and Bengo.
“Child labor is more important in some provinces, because, culturally, some children work in the fields. We have been carrying out a survey and diagnosis of identification so that we can have policies that can less and less see children in this type of mistreatment”, she declared.
He highlighted that in large cities, such as Luanda, the situation is already being combatted by a multi-sectoral commission that also involves the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women, the National Children’s Institute, the Police and Justice, in the sense of cutting off the possibility of using children as a workforce.
Minimum wage demands must be met gradually
On another aspect, when addressing the strike in the Public Service, Teresa Dias said that the Executive is open to dialogue with the social partners, in terms of the demands made, but there are dividing points, with emphasis on two, namely, the national minimum wage and the salary readjustment.
“We understand that purchasing power has been reducing because of inflation, but we cannot, by mere will or because the unions understand, increase a salary level that is not sustainable for the business sector”, he stressed.
He said that the demand must be met gradually, at the same time that the Executive continues to make efforts to provide greater supply, in order to guarantee the minimum conditions and alleviate the current situation a little.
The meeting, which will run until Thursday, will address topics linked to the state of the labor market in SADC, the implementation of the action plan on labor migration, the Child Labor Code of Conduct, the implementation of international labor standards in International Labor Organization (ILO) and the draft model framework for autonomous systems for resolving labor disputes.
The technical meeting of experts that began sunday will run until Tuesday, and the meeting of ministers will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
The meeting is attended by the organization’s 16 member states, namely Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, eSwatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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