STRIKE AT SUGAR MILL CONTINUES

A strike by about 700 workers in the Xinavane sugar mill in Manhica district, about 90 kilometres north of Maputo, went into its third day on Thursday after a meeting between the strikers and the Provincial Director of Labour, Olga Manjate, failed to produce any agreement.The strikers are demanding a wage rise, payment for overtime worked, and promotion in their professional careers.Their main grievance is that the company, the majority shareholder in which is the South African sugar group Tongaat-Hulett, has not honoured a July agreement to raise wages as from October.One worker, Mario Sitoe, cited in Friday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, said “on 20 October we asked the heads of each area to find out from the local trade union what was the solution to our concern”.“They promised to bring a solution”, he said, “but at the end of the month our wages remained the same and so we stopped working”.A second striker, Queiroz Sevene, insisted that the management had broken an agreement with the workers. “We decided to stop work to put pressure on them to respect the agreement they signed”.The workers say that, although they have other grievances, concerning overtime and promotions, they will return to work as soon as the company honours the July agreement.The Xinavane director of human resources, Francisco Nobrega, tried to downplay the strike, telling “Noticias” that it “only” involved workers at the mill, while workers on the sugar plantation were continuing to work normally.He described the dispute as “an internal problem that may be solved at any moment”. The company was holding meetings with the workers, he added.Olga Manjate confirmed that meetings are taking place, mediated by the Provincial Labour Directorate, in an attempt to find a solution that will satisfy both sides.“We are urging the workers to go back to their jobs while the negotiations are under way, so as not to cause the company losses”, she said. The Labour Directorate would insist on negotiations until consensus is reached.