Africa-Press – Seychelles. “The Seychelles Federation of Workers Unions (SFWU) joins workers of the world to commemorate the World Day of Decent Work on October 7, 2022 in conviction.
“This year’s World Day for Decent Work, October 7, is dedicated to ensuring wage justice for all workers. This theme is very much relevant and appropriate to our workers’ present local situation.
“Our local prices for energy, food, and other essentials are spiraling to levels that are slowly sending our working people into poverty, while they are being told by the government, economists, and the Central Bank that raising wages to enable them to withstand inflation is not acceptable.
“The SFWU solemnly joins workers in every part of the world in their call for ‘wage justice’, along with universal social protection, which is at the heart of the new social contract that the world so desperately needs, to ensure financial security for households and a sustainable economy.
“Wage justice is a cornerstone of the social contract between workers, governments, and employers that have been broken in the interests of corporate greed.
“In Seychelles lots of households are still struggling to meet the cost of essentials as workers continue getting less than they are due. Our national minimum wages and salaries and remuneration packages (discontinuity of long service allowances and another scheme of service benefits and 13th-month pay, etc.) are inadequate, leading these workers to continue to lose ground.
“The Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have had dramatic impacts on the supply and prices of goods, fuel, services, etc., which severely affects the share of the property going to our working people.
“Economists and central bankers, as well as politicians and media, should stop blaming inflation as somehow the fault of working people and that any increases in people’s incomes would be bad for the economy. That is simply untrue.
“If we are not careful our workers will be left with no option but to go on strike to demand action to bridge the wages gap in the face of rampant inflation that is depriving households and communities of any chance of a decent life and a decent future.
“The world needs a new social contract with wage justice at its heart. More decent jobs must be created, fundamental workers’ rights must be respected, discrimination must be replaced by equality, social protection must be extended to all, and an inclusive world economy must be built.
“Upon those foundations, peace can be built and the pressing challenges of today and the future can be met and overcome.
“The SFWU declares its full commitment to upholding the principles of decent work as an organising concept and working tool in an overall framework for action in social development.
“The SFWU herby made a call to all stakeholders to fully utilise and justly reward the valuable resource and devoted workers of Seychelles. Let’s emphasise the importance of labour laws in the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda particularly in the context of the national economy and advocating that labor laws, policies and their implementing legislation would have to adapt to more open and competitive markets.
“Without social protection, neither work nor lives can be decent. Our social protection needs to further protect workers at their workplaces from unjust, hazardous and unhealthy working conditions and maintain access to health services and social safety nets for people whose income puts them beneath the subsistence level.
As for dialogue, it is very important as conflicts arise when weaker parties see their rights blatantly violated and little or no action taken to instill justice. The ILO tripartite policy of governments, employers and workers should not become a dichotomy of division; it should rather incorporate ‘real world’ knowledge about employment and work, and help realise that we ultimately are all workers.
Let’s unite behind the noble concept and theme of decent work which if applied would undoubtedly advance God’s wish to see all men live a prosperous and happy life.”
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