The Malawi Congress of Trade Unions has cancelled the solidarity demonstrations slated to take place on Wednesday the 15th July, 2021.
The mother of all the trade unions in Malawi organised the peaceful demonstrations to show its anger and dissatisfaction over the controversial Labour bill amendements passed on the recent sitting of August house.
The called off follows a meeting of MCTU leadership and the President of the Republic of Malawi HE Dr Lazarus Chakwera in the afternoon.
During the discussions the President faulted the minister for not following the proper procedure and consultations despite having knowledge over the proposed bill amendments.
In His words the state president assured the MCTU leadership that he will with whole heartedly stand with them in protecting the rights of the workers.
The bill ammendments squeezed the workers by reducing their rights to industrial action, which is against human rights.
The minister can present a bill to the parliament on behalf of the government. In a matter of labour like this one, this being a review, before presentation, the minister was supposed to ” consult” the workers organizations represented through MCTU, employers organisations and the Ministry of labour first.
Unfortunately this did not happen, only shortcuts were used. Even if the minister had discussed the issue with the president first, missing this important procedure alone was a big error.
Furthermore, by “consultations” president Chakwera refers to meeting these stakeholders (three aforementioned parties).
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