"We need to reformulate this sector profoundly in order to create a new dynamic, and end the apathy which I noted there", she said. "We want to accomplish the duties of a genuine labour inspectorate".
She was speaking to reporters during a break in a training course for the 11 provincial chief labour inspectors. All but one of these were appointed last week: Taipo sacked nine chief inspectors, promoted one to the post of provincial labour director, and kept one (from Gaza province) at his post.
A genuine labour inspectorate, Taipo said, should know how to check on and punish those employers who do not comply with their obligations to their workforce, as established under the country's labour legislation.
"We want a country where the rule of law is respected", she stressed.
Taipo said that she had been travelling round the country, and had come across "unthinkable situations", because the labour inspectorate did nothing to protect workers.
In the central province of Zambezia, for example, she had found a company without basic sanitation. So the employers ordered workers to carry human excrement out in plastic bags and dispose of it on the local rubbish dump This happened every day, said Taipo, and the Provincial Labour Directorate took no measures, even though its building is located very close to the offending company.
In the northern province of Nampula, Taipo had found cashew processing factories which paid less than the statutory minimum wage, and where basic rules of workplace hygiene were ignored.
Yet the labour inspectorate had done nothing to impose respect for the law.
"These are questions that should have been dealt with immediately, if the inspectorate were working effectively", she said.
In opening the seminar, Taipo demanded that labour inspectors should behave in a "spotless and fair" fashion, rejecting unethical behaviour that damaged the prestige of their profession.
Among such unethical practices, she noted cases of inspectors who are paid by companies as advisors, instead of fining them whenever they committed irregularities.
"When we ensure that labour legislation is applied, we will be promoting labour peace and productivity in the company", said Taipo. "We shall also be contributing to the fight against poverty".
Currently the Labour Ministry employs about 90 inspectors, which is insufficient to cover the country effectively. Taipo said that the Ministry has a plan to improve the situation, by seeking funds to acquire vehicles and to train more inspectors.
SOURCE: AIM
