Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, Teresa Dias, considered, this Thursday, unrealistic the proposal of the unions to adopt a national minimum wage of KZ 250 thousand.
According to the government official, who was speaking to the press at the end of a meeting with union leaders, this is a proposal that is “completely out of the ordinary” and difficult to implement.
“To implement a national minimum wage of 250,000 kwanzas, everyone would have to be able to pay this amount, even for domestic workers,” he said, stressing that not even union leaders would have this capacity.
Without specifying numbers, Teresa Dias said that the Angolan Government is working, quite conclusively, on a proposal for a national minimum wage.
“We have to assume that this involves consultation with unions, the most massive employers in the country and, finally, a social consultation meeting, in which technical business groups and those most represented in civil society are convened and decide on a consensus everyone,” he argued.
The minister reiterated, on the other hand, that the Angolan Government and the trade unions are committed to finding solutions to improve workers’ conditions, including remuneration.
According to the minister, dialogue and rapprochement between the two parties will provide an understanding to avoid a possible strike, announced for next January.
He informed that negotiations will be carried out in the first fortnight of January, with the aim of eliminating concerns and reaching a consensus.
“I think there will be seven or eight points up for debate, as some are linked to others”, he concluded.
The meeting took place following the demand book addressed to the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, last September, by the National Union of Angolan Workers (UNTA – Confederação Sindical), General Central of Independent and Free Unions of Angola (CG-SILA) and the Força Sindical Angolana Central Sindical (FSA-CS).
The unions’ demands include a salary increase, national minimum wage, improvement of social conditions for workers and employees, payment of isolation allowances, among other matters.
Representatives of the Teachers’ Unions, UNTA – Confederação Sindical, CG-SILA and FSA-CS participated in the meeting, as well as the Ministers of Education and Health, respectively Luísa Grilo and Sílvia Lutucuta, the Secretary of State for Territorial Administration, Márcio Daniel, among other entities.
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