The agreement on the list of demands presented in September 2023 was reached at the end of a marathon negotiation lasting more than eight hours at the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security (MAPTS), a week before the third phase of the strike that had been called by the three Angolan trade unions.
Speaking to journalists, the Secretary of State for Labor and Social Security, Pedro Filipe, announced the main terms of the three-year agreement, which will be in force until 2027, and which included "structuring issues" presented by unions in recent years, among the what is the minimum wage, which will double, and public service salaries.
Pedro Filipe considered the agreement an "exercise of great patience and responsibility" between the executive and the unions that had "different positions" on a series of issues.
Among the structuring issues is the civil service salary, which will be adjusted by 35 percent next year, being reviewed on the eve of the preparation of the General State Budget in subsequent years.
"General principles for setting the national minimum wage" were also defined, which will rise to 70 thousand kwanzas, almost double the current 32,000 kwanzas.
For micro-enterprises and 'startups' the salary will be set at 50 thousand kwanzas, while companies that already pay 70 thousand kwanzas will have 12 months to reach 100 thousand kwanzas, while those below this level will have two years to reach 100 thousand kwanzas.
The executive will also review the criteria for granting subsidies to remote areas depending on the categories of municipalities and has agreed to incorporate a union representative into the supervisory board of the National Institute of Social Security.
Pedro Filipe also added that changes to labor taxes are being studied, with the aim of "evolving towards taxation in a more integrated perspective, with technical discussions being monitored by trade unions
With the agreement, the third phase of the strike, which was scheduled between the 3rd and 14th of June, should be called off, although the unions have not yet commented.
The three national trade unions - Central General de Sindicatos Independentes e Livres de Angola (CGSILA), the National Union of Angolan Workers - Confederação Sindical (UNTA-CS) and Força Sindical - Central Sindical (FS-CS) - ended in April The second phase of the strike was interpolated without reaching an agreement on wage demands and they promised to mobilize for the third phase.
