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Private sector wages too low-JK
2007-05-02 10:02:31
By Peter Tindwa
President Jakaya Kikwete has expressed his disappointment over low salaries paid by private employers to their workers, saying such a low pay amounted to humiliation.
Addressing the nation during May Day held in Mwanza yesterday, President Kikwete said there was a need for the private sector to pay its employees a living wage.
In his speech broadcast live on Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam, the President said the Government had directed the private sector to form industrial bodies to represent workers on matters affecting their lives.
``I am very much disappointed to find out that some employees in the private sector get between 35,000/- and 45,000/- per month. This is humiliation,`` he said.
On civil servants\' salaries, the President said the government was still working on the report of the presidential commission on public servants salaries before it announces the increment.
The commission, under the chairmanship of Deogratius Ntukamazima, was formed on July 1, 2006.
It submitted its report to the President in January, this year.
``We in the government are currently scrutinizing the report before implementing the recommendations contained in the commission\'s report, starting from the 2007/08 financial year,`` President Kikwete said.
President Kikwete said at least eight industrial bodies had been formed in the sectors of minerals, marine, trade, agriculture, industries, domestic employment, health and private security.
Other industrial bodies will be established in the near future to deal with workers\' fringe benefits in the private sector, according to the President.
On employment of foreign workers, President Kikwete said the habit whereby foreigners do jobs that could be performed efficiently by local staff should be discarded.
Earlier on, the Secretary General of the Trade Unions Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA), Nestory Ngulla, said the joint Presidential Commission on fringe benefits for civil servants had suggested that new minimum wage be raised from the current 75,000/- to 315,000/- per month for a civil servant with six dependants.
The commission has also proposed that maximum and taxable monthly salary should be 515,000/-, according to Ngulla.
Ngulla said private employers preferred casual labourers rather than permanent employees because they paid them less.
He also charged that some of private employers had the tendency of not remitting their workers\' statutory contributions to relevant social security funds.
``There is also an unnecessary delay in paying salaries of workers in the private sector as well as unfair termination of employment contracts,`` he added.
Ngulla said some private employers barred their employees from establishing field branches in their work places, thus denying them their right of association.
For his part, the Minister for Labour, Youth and Sports, John Chiligati, said the government would continue to improve working environment in the public and private sector.
A representative of the Association of Tanzania Employers, Dr Aggery Mulimuka, said for Tanzania to have decent jobs, the country needed sustainable economic growth.
He said employers had the responsibility of recognizing their labour force`s contribution.
``A good employer observes labour laws and other existing laws governing the country,`` Dr Mulimuka said.
Maria Doutch, a representative from the International Labour Organisations, commended the government for striving to promote gender equality and equity, security for workers and workers` freedom.
She added that the government had demonstrated its commitment to poverty reduction among workers and the general public.
At least 27 best workers from both private and public sectors were yesterday awarded with cash prizes and certificates of excellence.
Cash prizes ranged between 200,000/- and 13,000,000/-. Among the best workers were engineers, broadcasters, accountants and workers from different municipalities.
Hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians joined other workers in the world to mark May Day, celebrated on every May 1 worldwide.
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