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Urafiki ceases production, locks out workers
2008-02-02 09:43:19
By Nasser Kigwangallah
About 400 workers of the Tanzania-China Friendship Textile Mill in Dar es Salaam have defied an ultimatum issued by the management to resume work by 12.30 pm on January 31, 2008, forcing the factory management to lock them out.
``Because workers did not resume work, the factory management has been forced to halt all production activities indefinitely until further notice,`` read a notice placed on the gates yesterday.
The notice, signed by Huang Lian, the mill`s general manager, stated that the factory activities had been halted and no work would resume until all matters pertaining to the strike had been sorted out between the management and the Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO).
The strike, which started on Monday, has paralysed production work at the factory, causing huge losses.
This reporter saw hundreds of stranded workers seated outside the factory waiting for their fate.
No company official was available for comment because the gate was locked and no activities were apparently going on.
One worker who preferred anonymity said they would not resume work until their demands for a pay rise were met.
``We are not going to resume work at the factory under these circumstances until a 150,000/- pay rise starting January as announced by the government is given,`` he said.
``Unless the government intervenes, the wave of strikes, not only at Urafiki, but elsewhere in the country will continue,`` said another one, Athuman Idd.
John Chilligati, the Labour, Employment and Youth Development minister, told reporters in Dodoma on Thursday that the government had exempted 58 large scale industries from paying the official minimum wage of 150,000/-.
The exempted companies will now pay 80,000/- as minimum wage.
He said the decision was part of the amendment of the Wage Order issued by the government in November last year stipulating that small and medium scale industries should pay 80,000/- monthly minimum wage.
Chilligati had earlier called on Urafiki workers to call off the strike and return to work.
Of late, there has been a spate of industrial unrest with workers demanding new minimum wages as announced by the government.
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