Payment of laid-off workers: Progress made

A meeting in Yaounde by trade unions discussed the progress made on unpaid remuneration entitled to workers of liquidated and privatized state companies.

On Tuesday, Committee members for consultation and monitoring of social dialogue held their fifth session in Yaounde and on the agenda of the meeting, chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Grégoire Owona, also Chairman of the said Committee, was to propose and find appropriate solutions to the concerns of citizens of Cameroon.

Like the payment of social rights to former employees of liquidated or privatized state companies, the improvement of living conditions of the union by examining the distribution patterns adopted from the public subsidy and the involvement of teachers in the process of Academic Palms.

"We see that there has been progress on the former employees of the state, in terms of legal rights. Regarding reintegration allowances, three months was paid on 12 months basis. It was therefore a question of assessing progress after one year. There is not yet a strong decision, we are still at the analysis stage and believe that as responsible trade unions, we cannot make decisions that can truly ignite Cameroon in a way that makes a person get satisfaction," said Jean Marie Zambo Amougou, president of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers of Cameroon (CSTC) at the end of the meeting.

He added: "The government accepts our demands, but there are difficulties in implementation. What we claim as solutions is not all applicable for now. As for the trade unionists subsidy problem, the Government agrees the principle of subsidizing union centers is acquired although nothing has been seen yet."

It should be recalled that the Committee for Dialogue and monitoring of social dialogue is a tripartite body to monitor and ensure the effective implementation of the measures decided by the government, as part of social dialogue. It has the task of promoting the relations between the different partners of the social dialogue in order to prevent social conflicts of any kind and gather, discuss, examine and appreciate the demands of professional organizations to find solutions negotiated.