According to the person responsible - cited in a statement from the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, to which VerAngola had access - "it has been a recurring occurrence in the establishment, non-compliance with disciplinary leave, excessive working hours, lack of hygiene and personal protective equipment, and the absence of these means can cause severe damage to human health".
In a preliminary phase, he said, recommendations will be made to the 200 establishments identified on Tuesday, in order for the law's assumptions to be met, "within a determined time, except for those that present worse conditions, they may be held responsible in accordance with the law".
In turn, Alex Li, secretary of the Board of Directors of the Cidade da China, assured that the company has been checking "the working conditions in the 400 stores there, with the aim of maintaining the best conditions for everyone".
According to the secretary, the Cidade da China employs approximately 5 thousand people, which is why they "welcome the commission" to investigate the conditions of the infrastructure.
He also highlighted that they have "sought to comply with the requirements of the law".
"We have tried to comply with the requirements of the law. Workers have contracts, protective equipment and the national minimum wage", he said, quoted in the statement.
However, workers at that company expressed dissatisfaction. This was the case of Josefina Henriques, 24 years old, an employee of one of the stores in the Cidade da China, who "revealed that the working conditions are precarious, in addition to their salaries being reduced, considering that they work seven days a week, without the right to to days off and vacations", painting the situation as "terrible".
According to the young woman, they do not receive food assistance nor do they have a formal contract.
"There is no flexibility when a worker has a health problem and is immediately fired. They do not respect workers. My salary is 45 thousand kwanzas, I have been earning this amount for eight months. I only put up with this situation because I have nothing else to do in life," she said, quoted in the statement.
Another case is that of Rosalina Tito, a 24-year-old girl who works in a supermarket. According to the statement, the young woman also works every day, coming in at 7:30 am and leaving at 5:30 pm, but there are "times when the hours are extended" and they leave later.
Living in Panguila, the young woman receives a salary of 45 thousand kwanzas, which ends up not being enough for the daily taxi, "which can cost more than 1000 kwanzas".
Rosalina says she finds this salary "absurd", since the store has a high daily turnover: "I think this salary is absurd, because the store earns a lot per day, given the prices of the products. We are only six employees and we shouldn't go through this situation", she said, quoted in the statement.
On the first day of inspection work, carried out in Cidade da China, according to the ministry, it was found that "many stores were closed and many workers were dismissed, so as not to provide accurate information about irregularities in the establishments".
However, the IGT was still able to detect "flaws with contracts, lack of registration with Social Security, as well as lack of medical and medication assistance for employees who may be sick", the note reads.
The 'Trabalho Digno' operation – which began on Tuesday and will take place over three months, at a national level – concerns an action coordinated by the IGT, in combination with the National Institute of Social Security, the General Tax Administration, the Immigration and Foreigners Service, the Criminal Investigation Service and the National Police.
Scheduled to conclude in September, the operation will have 50 brigades and will be divided into three stages. Each stage will last one month and the first is aimed at the commerce, extractive and transformation industries, while the second and third phases will concern the property security sector and the civil construction sector, public works and the mining sector, respectively.
