MCTU blames govt over botched minimum wage talks

Officials from the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) is pushing for a minimum wage of K100,000 from the current K50,000 because of the escalating cost of living.

MCTU general secretary Madalitso Njolomole says officials of the ministry of Labour are playing hide and seek on the matter.

Njolomole has blamed the ministry of Labour for failing to convene a meeting where the issue of minimum wage would be tabled and discussed.

He said the ministry was supposed to convene what he described as Tripartite Labour Advisory Council (TLAC) meeting to negotiate the newly proposed minimum wage of K100,000.

Njolomole said the union has on several occasions asked the ministry to call for the meeting, considering the current economic hardships employees are going through, but to no avail.

Labour minister Vera Kamtukule has attributed their failure to holding the meeting to lack of funds, but assured stakeholders that the meeting will take place before April this year.

The current minimum wage is at K50,000 and K38,000 for the formal and informal sectors respectively.