Last Saturday, the General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers held its fifth regular conference in the light of the complex economic and social context due to the repercussions of COVID-19 re-electing Abdallah Ould Mohamed secretary general. The Confederacy issued the following statement:
The Fifth Ordinary Conference of the General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers was held on Saturday 3 April 2021 in Nouakchott, in the current sanitary crisis.
The conference focused on analysing the situation of workers in our country in the face of the repercussions of the pandemic on the economic and social situation, a situation characterized by the loss of many jobs and the increasing poverty in large groups of workers and their families. The prices of all basic commodities increased as the purchasing power of workers collapsed, exposing them to socio-economic vulnerabilities that threaten the social peace.
The conference indicated that dismissals took place despite the measures taken by the government.
The conference expressed its regret that all attempts to have social negotiations under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour have been met with failure due to the ministry’s intention to impose its agenda on trade unions which is considered a violation to the principle of tripartite cooperation of the three social parties.
The conference calls for organizing professional representative elections as soon as possible in order to identify the workers’ organizations to negotiate the following points in complete neutrality:
- Reviewing the legislative, regulatory, and contractual texts related to labour: the Labour Law, the Social Security Law, the General Social Agreement for Work by re-evaluating the minimum wage for professionals, (SMIG) – and reviewing the value of the salary index and the wages of civil servants and state agents.
- Social protection for all workers, especially the most vulnerable sectors.
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