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19 August, 2009
The IV National Delegate Congress convened by Sintime was held in Chimoio, Mozambique 22-23 October 2007. Over fifty nine delegates and various national and international guests participated at the event.
Bro Mateus Filipe Muianga was elected General Secretary of SINTIME. The new national office bearers include workers from the shop floor, one of whom is a woman, from strategic plants in Mozambique.
The congress provided a good platform to discuss many challenges facing workers and the union. The action plan approved in the last congress was not fully implemented during the period between May 2000 and May 2007 by former union office bearers and delegates were deeply concerned about the situation. They also noted lack of interaction between union structures and also between shop stewards and workers from different plants across the country. Some delegates claimed never have seen union leadership visiting their provinces and providing them any assistance. They reported that in the last five years many workers have been retrenched without compensations from their employers. Workers in some companies have salaries in arrears. Although they do have union plant committees, those are very weak and fragmented with shop stewards not trained in union activities. The congress resolved to set up a shop stewards forum to enable shop stewards from different companies to meet every three months to interact themselves and share their experiences. The congress also resolved to set up an organizing department in the union.
The congress resolved to set up within the union a department to deal with youth workers issues. It was indicated that a young worker from Mozal plant will be responsible for this department .He has participated in IMF training and also attended a health and safety workshop in Canada with the assistance of the IMF and Numsa.
Whilst the country has experienced economic growth in the last few years, this has not trickled down to workers and communities and poverty is still rife. HIV and AIDS prevalence also remain high and is one of the challenges facing workers and unions in the country. The current industrial minimum wage is just 1.443 meticais (USD 55.7) a month, which unions say cover only 50 per cent of the most basic needs of a worker and his or her family.
Trade unions in Mozambique have been burdened by downsizings and redundancies. Since Mozambique's first structural adjustment programmes, most of the country's large state owned companies have been replaced by smaller private firms, which pose difficulties for unionization and the mediation of labour conflicts.
New labour laws have been approved recently by Parliament but is not yet in force as it is still subject to correction before publications. The employers and unions reached consensus on most clauses in the bill, but the unions are still fighting to maintain favourable redundancy pay terms that are in the current legislation. Employers however claim that decent redundancy term affect their competitiveness and they want to make it much cheaper to fire workers.
OTM-CS, the biggest national centre in the country has encouraged unions to merge and form strong, democratic and self reliant unions. However, former SINTIME leadership has not seriously engaged in discussions with other unions to merge. It is hoped that under new leadership, SINTIME will once again pursue a merger.
Bro Mateus Filipe Muianga was elected General Secretary of SINTIME. The new national office bearers include workers from the shop floor, one of whom is a woman, from strategic plants in Mozambique.
The congress provided a good platform to discuss many challenges facing workers and the union. The action plan approved in the last congress was not fully implemented during the period between May 2000 and May 2007 by former union office bearers and delegates were deeply concerned about the situation. They also noted lack of interaction between union structures and also between shop stewards and workers from different plants across the country. Some delegates claimed never have seen union leadership visiting their provinces and providing them any assistance. They reported that in the last five years many workers have been retrenched without compensations from their employers. Workers in some companies have salaries in arrears. Although they do have union plant committees, those are very weak and fragmented with shop stewards not trained in union activities. The congress resolved to set up a shop stewards forum to enable shop stewards from different companies to meet every three months to interact themselves and share their experiences. The congress also resolved to set up an organizing department in the union.
The congress resolved to set up within the union a department to deal with youth workers issues. It was indicated that a young worker from Mozal plant will be responsible for this department .He has participated in IMF training and also attended a health and safety workshop in Canada with the assistance of the IMF and Numsa.
Whilst the country has experienced economic growth in the last few years, this has not trickled down to workers and communities and poverty is still rife. HIV and AIDS prevalence also remain high and is one of the challenges facing workers and unions in the country. The current industrial minimum wage is just 1.443 meticais (USD 55.7) a month, which unions say cover only 50 per cent of the most basic needs of a worker and his or her family.
Trade unions in Mozambique have been burdened by downsizings and redundancies. Since Mozambique's first structural adjustment programmes, most of the country's large state owned companies have been replaced by smaller private firms, which pose difficulties for unionization and the mediation of labour conflicts.
New labour laws have been approved recently by Parliament but is not yet in force as it is still subject to correction before publications. The employers and unions reached consensus on most clauses in the bill, but the unions are still fighting to maintain favourable redundancy pay terms that are in the current legislation. Employers however claim that decent redundancy term affect their competitiveness and they want to make it much cheaper to fire workers.
OTM-CS, the biggest national centre in the country has encouraged unions to merge and form strong, democratic and self reliant unions. However, former SINTIME leadership has not seriously engaged in discussions with other unions to merge. It is hoped that under new leadership, SINTIME will once again pursue a merger.