Maputo, Jan. 6, 2025 (Lusa) - The Single Wage Table (TSU) in Mozambique since 2022 has made it possible to practically double the value of the minimum wage in direct state administration to 8,758 meticais (€133), according to a government document.
‘Public servants who earned the minimum wage in direct state administration before the TSU came into force saw their salaries revalued by the framework process, from 4,468 meticais (€68) on average to 8,758 meticais,’ reads according to a government document on the implementation of the reform, which was strongly contested by various sectors of the civil service.
‘For example, in the direct and indirect administration of the state, we had 89 salary levels, 103 scales, 5,625 salaries and 35 supplements or allowances,’ the document points out to justify the reform.
The note also emphasised that ‘other state officials and agents who earned below-average salaries’ also ‘had their salaries upgraded, particularly those in the general regime careers’ and that those who ‘had above-average salaries did not have any upgrading, bearing in mind that the framework is not an administrative act of promotion, progression, career change or increase in salaries in the state apparatus’.
The document recalls that the TSU is part of the ‘set of public administration reforms’ implemented by the government to ‘value and professionalise the public servants who work in the direct and indirect administration of the state’ and thus ‘ensure the continuous improvement of the provision of quality public services’, while also ‘correcting the imbalances that characterised the remuneration system’ of the direct and indirect administration of the state.
‘As well as avoiding the instability of the payroll resulting from the indexation of allowances/wage supplements to the basic salary, among others (...) These reforms began in 1990, and since then, in their implementation, there have been some challenges related to the existence of different salary levels, various pay scales and many allowances, which led to differences in salaries between state employees and agents with similar functional requirements,’ the document further justifies, explaining the calculation method applied.
‘The TSU strengthens the protection of state officials and agents, taking into account the principle of linking permanent supplements to salary so that state officials and agents in retirement receive a more robust pension close to the remuneration they earned in active service,’ it adds.
Mozambique's state spending on wages and salaries grew by 4.2% in 2024, up to September, compared to the same period in 2023, to more than 152,916 million meticais (€2,266 million).
From January to September, spending on civil service salaries represented more than half of Mozambique's total public spending in this period, totalling 247.945 billion meticais (€3.672).
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said in parliament on 7 August that implementing the TSU, which has been criticised for its impact on civil service salaries, has reduced wage discrepancies.
The issue is the crisis that has arisen in the Mozambican state apparatus due to strikes and threats of strike action by civil servants demanding better working conditions and protesting against delays and salary cuts that began with the implementation of the TSU, approved in 2022.
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