Mozambique: Negotiations to Avert Medical Doctor’s Strike End in Deadlock

Maputo — Negotiations between the Mozambican government and
the Medical Association (AMM), which sought to find a solution to avert a
doctor’s strike that is set to begin on Monday next week, have ended in a
deadlock.

According to a letter from the AMM which has been circulating on social
media, the Government did not want to give in so the doctors decided to
abandon the meeting, claiming that it was unproductive and continued with
the preparations for the strike.

Furthermore, the doctors are unwilling to negotiate with the same
government representatives they met on Wednesday. They demand a change in
the composition of the Government representatives and that, in an eventual
next meeting, the Ministry of State Administration and Public Function to
be duly represented, which apparently did not happen today.

“Meanwhile, the preparations for the strike, which will start on Monday”,
says the AMM.

These latest developments come few hours after Mozambican President Filipe
Nyusi called the doctors to show restraint and embrace dialogue as a means
to sort all differences during a visit to the District Hospital of Sanga,
in the northern province Niassa.

Health Minister, Armindo Tiago, on Wednesday said that any claims should be
sent to the respective Human Resources departments and assured that there
is capacity to correct any mistakes that may have occurred.

At the origin of the strike, according to the medical doctors, are the
non-conformities in the Single Wage Table (TSU).

There had been optimism that the TSU would greatly improve the wages in the
public administration, but the government explains that here would be no
general wage increase for state employees.

Instead, the TSU will lead to the elimination of the wage imbalances that
currently exist in the Public Administration. Hence, it is not a wage
revision that can be understood as an increase in wages in the public
administration.

The government also promised that the TSU will not lower anybody’s wages.

If the new wage scale did lead to any individual being paid less than
previously, he or she will receive a “wage adjustment allowance”

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