Mozambique will have labour mediation and arbitration centres operational in all provinces by next year.Currently seven of these centres exist – in Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Manica, Sofala, Nampula, and Cabo Delgado provinces. Their purpose is to reach solutions to labour disputes without going through the courts.According to the chairperson of the Labour Mediation and Arbitration Commission (COMAL), Mario Ussene, it is urgent that such centres should function in all provinces, so that they can intervene speedily when necessary.“If we can ensure that the physical structure exists in all the provinces, then we can have the mediation and arbitration centres operating by the end of this year”, he said. “But we shall certainly have them all functioning by 2012”.Ussene was speaking to reporters during a meeting held to standardize COMAL’s working methods and procedures in Lindela, in the southern province of Inhambane. Officials for the centres in the three southern provinces attended the meeting, and drew up a balance sheet of the work done so far by the mediation and arbitration centres. “We want to see what has been done since the centres were established, the advantages and the disadvantages”, said Ussene. “We want to look at the existing difficulties, to correct them, and thus improve our organisation, and harmonise our working methods”.Ussene said that the main problems facing the centres concern their small number of staff, and lack of adequate training. On average there are six mediators in each provincial centre. But to respond to all the requests reaching the centres, at least 20 would be required.“The number we have at the moment is too small to satisfy the demand”, said Ussene. “But since we are just starting, we shall go on training, and we will be able to reach the ideal number. When mediation is undertaken by somebody who has the capacity to bring people together, the results are good”.Last year, 7,000 cases entered the mediation centres, which managed to reach an agreement between the parties in around 5,000 of them. The remaining cases, where no agreement was possible, were remitted to the courts.Ussene recalled that, before the appearance of the mediation and arbitration centres, labour disputes were long drawn out because they tended to end up in the courts, where there was a huge backlog of cases.“The number of cases that entered the courts was very large, and it took a long time, even years, before any decision was reached”, he said.“Extrajudicial mediation brings employers and workers closer together”, argued Ussene. “Today the employer and the worker have begun to understand each other. This way of solving labour disputes has led to a reduction in the number of cases sent to the courts”.The Italian government, through the NGO ISCOS (Trade Union Institute for Development Cooperation), has financed both COMAL, and the Labour Consultative Commission (CCT), the tripartite negotiating body between the government, the unions and the employers’ associations.According to ISCOS delegate Igor Felice, about a million euros (1.4 million US dollars), has been spent on training representatives of the provincial consultative forums and the mediation centres.“We are pleased with the results”, he said. “We know that in training projects results are seen in the long term. But people’s participation in the various forums today is good. The centres have mediated many conflicts, and this facilitates the business environment”.But the ISCOS project ends this year, and there is no guarantee of further funding. “This is the last month of activity”, said Felice. “It’s been four years of work supporting the CCT and COMAL. It’s a good starting point, but there’s still a lot to do. We think we can give more support, but continuation depends on the donors. It’s not easy with the financial crisis”.