Limbe shop owners, workers agree
Shop owners and their workers on Tuesday reached a compromise for better wages, two days after business ground to a halt in Limbe, a business hub in Malawi’s commercial city of Blantyre.
Shop assistants on Monday and Tuesday went berserk, forcibly closing shops. They were demanding K18 600 (about $46) per month as effected by shop owners in Lilongwe in May this year.
But after a lengthy meeting at the Ministry of Labour offices in Limbe, the two sides came to a compromise. The increased wages are effective this month.
Following the agreement, the workers will be receiving K600 (about $1.60) per day from the K317 ($1) per day government-set minimum wage, K4 000 ($10) housing allowance from K1 500 (about $3.75) per month and K20 000 (about $50) bereavement allowance when an employee’s close relation dies, according to Ibrahim Saidi, vice-chairperson of the workers’ representative committee.
Said Saidi: “We have signed an agreement and if they violate that, we will go back to the streets in protest.”
One of the employers who attended the meeting corroborated Saidi’s version.
Said the employer: “That issue has been resolved amicably. Whatever issues were there are now water under the bridge. But I cannot give figures on how much we have lost [in terms of business].”
In May this year, Minister of Labour Eunice Makangala undertook to raise the minimum wage from less than K10 000 (about $25) that most workers were getting in Lilongwe.
A similar strike in Lilongwe cost businesses between K70 million (about $175 000) and K80 million (about $200 000) in two days.
In Limbe, the shop assistants targeted shops owned by Malawians of Asian origin and foreigners such as Chinese, Burundians, Lebanese and Pakistanis whom they accused of depriving workers of decent wages in spite of making hefty profits from businesses.
Makangala had earlier announced that government would meet the Employers Association of Malawi (Ecam) and the Malawi Congress of Trade Union (MCTU) to review upwards the current minimum wage of K317 per day or K8 242 (about $20) a month.
Among several issues, the Lilongwe shop and domestic workers were demanding an increment of 200 percent for those receiving less than K10 000 per month, and 150 percent for those getting K10 000 (about $25) or more.
