The Mozambican Labour Ministry on Monday announced that this year’s discussions on increases in the minimum wages have ended and the proposals will now be submitted for approval by the Council of Ministers (Cabinet).
The discussions took place behind closed doors in the Labour Consultative Commission (CCT), the tripartite negotiating commission between the government, the trade unions and the employers’ associations.
The Ministry spokesperson, Emidio Mavila, told reporters that consensus had been reached between the employers and the unions, but he could not reveal any details. “At this session, we are not announcing the figures”, he said, “because it is up to the Council of Ministers to approve the national minimum wages for each sector of activity”.
The ideal monthly wage, for a worker with a seven member family, would be 30,000 meticais (about 469 US dollars, at the current exchange rate), said Andre Malate, the representative on the CCT of Mozambique’s largest trade union federation, the OTM . None of the current minimum wages, fixed last year, come anywhere near this figure – the lowest minimum wage, for fishermen on Lake Cahora Bassa, is 4,402 meticais a month, while the highest, for financial services, is 13,410 meticais.