Supporters of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) march in Luanda on June 3, 2023, in a demonstration against fuel price increases in Angola. (Photo by Julio Pacheco Ntera/AFP)
In March, Angolans will go on their first general strike since independence in 1975.
The union says the strike focuses on the fight over the country's minimum wage of $38 a month (the “slave wage”).
“Anyone who received $38 [R722 at the current exchange rate] It is nothing short of a real slave,” said Francisco Jacinto, secretary general of the General Center of Independent and Free Associations of Angola.
Unions are calling for an increase to $288, as the price of a basket of basic groceries currently exceeds $100, according to government figures. Angolan authorities have proposed raising it to $45.
The main opposition party, Unita, said it was siding with workers on the issue.
“If your salary is no longer enough to give your children a quality education, build a decent home, buy transportation, and save money, then at least you can put food on the table. “They should be paid enough to meet their needs,” said Unita MP Domingos Palanga. .
Over the past five years, more than a dozen strikes have taken place in Angola in various sectors of the civil service, including education, health and the judiciary. This time, employees from all sectors have been mobilized to join the strike en masse, and it looks like they are ready.
President Joao Lorenzo's government said the union's demands were unreasonable.
“A national minimum wage of $288…seems like an outrageous number,” Labor Secretary Teresa Diaz said. “We have to make the trade union center understand that none of us, not even themselves, are in a position to pay this level of wages.”
Last month, the government increased workers' salaries by 5%. Adhemar Zingma, a teacher in Bengo province, said the increase in his salary was “not enough to buy a 25kg bag of rice for a five-person household.”
He added, “A bag of rice costs $31, but that money is not enough to buy a box of cooking oil ($26).”
Last year, the oil-rich country was hit by a wave of protests after the government cut subsidies on gasoline in June. The aim was to curb government spending as the local currency, Kwanzaa, has depreciated due to falling oil prices, hurting the economy.
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