Mota-Engil staff strike, projects stall
Progress in infrastructure projects by Mota-Engil Malawi has stalled following a sit-in by the company’s 2 000-strong workforce who are demanding a 50 percent pay rise.
Insiders confided in The Nation yesterday that the strike has been in progress since last week as the workers are protesting a 15 percent increment offer by their employer.
Mota-Engil is working on three major projects, namely the upgrading of Mzimba Street in Lilongwe to six lanes, the rehabilitation and widening of the M1 from Kasungu to Jenda in Mzimba and the K10 billion Likoma Jetty which was due for completion next month. However, the strike has paralysed the works.
But in an interview yesterday, Mota-Engil Malawi public relations manager Thomas Chafunya said there was expectation that the staff could resume work today while normal negotiations.
He said the workers, who are over 1 500, including contractors, are demanding a 50 percent salary increment in light of the 44 percent kwacha devaluation which came into effect in November 2023.
Said Chafunya: “The company has made its position known through a communication made available to all employees that the demanded 50 percent salary increment cannot be met due to the business environment.”
However, he said a 15 percent increment has been offered to the staff on top of immediate implementation of government’s minimum wage.
But other sources indicated that officials from the Ministry of Labour yesterday intervened on the matter by engaging the Mota-Engil staff in discussions, offering assurance that they would return to work as further talks are expected to proceed on Thursday.
The strike comes amid pressure from workers in both the public and private sectors who want their employers to hike salaries in response to the devaluation.
Meanwhile, the recently gazetted minimum wages have already sparked protests as Lilongwe Shops and Domestic Workers Association on Monday asked government to revise them upwards in response to the devaluation and rising cost of living.
The ministry last month set K52 000, up from K38 000 per month, as the minimum wage for domestic workers while for those in formal employment such as shop workers, it went up to K90 000 from K50 000.
Healthcare workers affiliated to the National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi and Physician Assistants Union of Malawi are also pushing for a 900 percent hike in their locum allowances to settle the pay hike standoff with the Ministry of Health.
Government last month also raised civil servants’ salaries by an average of 15 percent after the workers protested the 10 percent hike.
In December, reports were rife that at least 500 jobs were at stake at Mota Engil following a decision by the company to scale down operations at its Mkwinda Camp near Zalewa Trading Centre in Neno District.
