"The country definitely needs to revisit the fundamentals of employer and worker remuneration policy in the context of the production and distribution of its national product. The current policy only protects the stability of employers and does little to protect the stability of workers' remuneration", considered the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
UNITA deputies promise to present a request to discuss this issue at the parliament's plenary meeting, called for Thursday and Friday, aiming for fair and economically sustainable solutions.
The largest opposition party also announced that it will propose a vote to welcome social consultation and encourage the executive and unions to a "deep and constructive dialogue", aiming to find fair and robust solutions to the challenges facing the economy.
Recalling that the right to strike and freedom of association are constitutional instruments of participatory democracy, in a statement on the general strike, the first phase of which began this Wednesday and runs until Friday, UNITA states that society "cannot continue to accept indifferently that some are always paid the maximum and others are always paid the minimum".
When the State "allows and forces society" to pay the prices of the products and services it consumes based on the exchange rate and does not force it to pay workers' salaries based on the same exchange rate, notes UNITA, "it is to protect the stability of the remuneration of financial capital at the expense of the instability of the remuneration of human capital".
"Injustice is promoted instead of justice. The UNITA parliamentary group understands that this policy constitutes the main cause of the strike now announced for the 20th, 21st and 22nd and other subsequent phases", reads the statement.
An increase in civil service salaries, an increase in the national minimum wage and a reduction in Labor Income Tax (IRT) are among the demands of the unions, which opted for a general strike due to dissatisfaction with the Government's proposals.
UNITA calls on the executive and all living forces in the country to discuss the issue "in depth", to find an "equitable, economically viable and socially fair" solution.
Força Sindical, União Nacional dos Trabalhadores de Angola – Confederação Sindical (UNTA-CS) and Central Geral de Sindicatos Independentes e Livres de Angola (CGSILA) are the three trade unions that called for the general strike.
The UNITA parliamentary group also urged the MPLA, the party that supports the executive, to seek a balance between the rate of remuneration of financial capital, "which it holds today as boss, and the rate of remuneration of human capital, including workers and peasants, both necessary and inseparable for the production of national wealth and the guarantee of social stability".
