2023-05-17 21:14:49
In Benin, the unions had a meeting on Tuesday May 16 with the Government. They assessed the level of satisfaction of the demands of the workers formulated during the last negotiations.
For the year 2023, this first ordinary session of the National Consultation Commission was mainly devoted to the primary and secondary education sub-sector. Faced with the general secretaries of the trade unions and confederations, the Government made a point of implementing the old grievances formulated during the meetings of April 26, September 8 and December 06, 2022.
According to Minister of State Abdoulaye Bio Tchané, President of the National Commission for Concertation, Consultation and Collective Negotiations, “the achievements obtained relate in particular to the revaluation of the wages of workers in the public and private sectors”. Abdoulaye Bio Tchané assured that the salary increase has been effective through “the increase in the value of the index point by 3% and the institution of a salary supplement for the benefit of State agents, civil servants or contractual agents under public law, from December 1, 2022”.
The Government is also concerned about the fate of workers in the private sector. He has “obtained from employers, the raising of the guaranteed interprofessional minimum wage (SMIG) by 30%, to increase it from 40,000 FCFA to 52,000 F, from January 1, 2023″said the Minister of State
The government has also agreed to the transfer of AMEs to the body of State Public Law Contract Agents (ACDPE), indicated Bio Tchané. However, the repayment concerns AMEs which have been in service for at least three years and which have successfully passed the evaluation test.
The reassignment of contract agents under public law to the body of State civil servants is ongoing. Nevertheless, these future permanent agents of the State must have obtained an average superior or equal to 10 out of 20 during the knowledge assessment organized in 2019.
As for the teachers dismissed for having boycotted the said performance evaluation, since January 2023, the process of their reintegration into the Public Service has been initiated. Bio Tchané told the unions that the 305 teachers reinstated should be getting their salaries soon.
Regarding youth employment, the government has assured that it has taken several initiatives. These include the inclusion in 2022 of three thousand young people under the Special Program for Integration into Employment and the putting to work of more than 6,000 young Beninese in the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone.
Complaints
For the unions, a lot of effort remains to be done. They want AMEs to be paid throughout the calendar year instead of 11 months out of 12.
The workers’ representatives further underlined the limits of the salary increase for civil servants. “We can see that there has been an increase in salaries, especially in the public sector, where there have been agents in certain categories who have had the increase, especially over-salaries. [Mais] in this public sector, there are people, territorial agents for example, who have not been satisfied. There are contracted agents of companies like ORTB, CNHU and others who have not been satisfied”regrets Kassa Mampo, General Secretary of the CSTB.
The improvement in the working conditions of workers on certain construction sites was also of concern.
The Government and the social partners will hold the next few days, new meetings to address the demands not yet satisfied.
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