Angolan workers are threatening to go ahead with the third phase of the general strike in March if the 25% pay rise does not take place in February, a union source said on Tuesday, lamenting the government’s “failure to honour agreements”.
Angolan workers are holding simultaneous provincial meetings on Saturday to decide what position to take if the government maintains its decision to only increase civil service salaries by 25% in March, with backdating. These meetings were scheduled for last Saturday, but were postponed a week to allow the unions to better prepare.
According to the leader of the free and independent trade unions of Angola, Francisco Jacinto, at these meetings the workers should also assess the government’s “non-compliance” and the next steps if the 25% is not reflected in February’s salaries.
“We remember that the third phase of the general strike was suspended [in May 2024] and not lifted and when it is suspended it is just a mobilisation to warn workers that the situation could go to extremes in the event of the government’s non-compliance,” said the trade unionist today.
Speaking to Lusa, Francisco Jacinto stressed that the trade union federations are willing to comply “in good faith” with the agreement signed with the government in 2024, hoping that the executive will also do so in good faith.
But, as a precautionary measure, he continued, “we are holding these meetings to tell the employees what is happening and, in the event of non-compliance, we will set a date for the resumption of the general strike”.
The February wage slip should determine the subsequent steps taken by Angolan workers, especially if it doesn’t reflect the 25% wage increase, which was due to take effect from January 2025.
“We’re going to wait and see whether or not the 25% will be reflected in the payroll in February and the workers will make their assessment as to whether or not we’ll be in a position to move on to the third phase of the strike,” he said, pointing to March as the likely month for the general strike.
“There’s no doubt about it, given the non-compliances we can lift the suspension of the general strike in March, that’s why we’re giving it all this time,” he said.
The three-year agreement for the enhancement of workers (2025-2027) was signed in May 2024 in Luanda, following a marathon negotiation lasting almost ten hours between the Angolan government and the trade unions.
The trade union centre, the União Nacional dos Trabalhadores Angolanos – Confederação Sindical (UNTA-CS) and the Força Sindical – Central Sindical (FS-CS) were the signatories to the agreement with the Angolan government on updating the national minimum wage and adjusting the civil service salary by 25%.
In this five-page agreement and with a roadmap of tasks to be implemented by 2027, the parties committed that the salary review of the entire civil service will take place over three years, with effect from January 2025, with a 25% increase, providing for negotiations on 30 September of each year for subsequent increases.
The 25% increase in civil service salaries was scheduled to begin in January 2025, but the government postponed it until March, with retroactive effect from January and February, following the approval on 22 January of a decree authorising the Angolan president, João Lourenço, to legislate on the general principles for implementing the salary increase.
Today, the secretary-general of the trade union centre also spoke of the government’s “various non-compliances” with the Triennial Agreement, noting that only the national minimum wage clause has been complied with.
Other clauses that have not been complied with include the presence of union representatives in the evaluation of the revision of the income tax, IRT, on the supervisory board of the National Institute of Social Security, INSS, among others, concluded Francisco Jacinto.
Lusa
