[Malawi] Government commitment to ‘decent work’ in tobacco sector

Malawi’s government has announced its commitment to ensuring that there is “decent work” for tobacco sector employees, Tobacco Reporter reports.

 According to reporting from Malawi24.com, labour commissioner Hlalerwayo Kelvin Nyangulu made the announcement during a workshop on improving knowledge of labour laws, issues and compliance. 

“In 2021, the employment act was amended, and we actually abolished tenants labour in Malawi,” Mr Nyangulu said. “So, (the) government is really committed to ensure that we have decent work in the tobacco sector.

“What is important now is that a decision has been made, a law has been enacted, so what is happening is that as I speak, tenants labour is abolished in Malawi. As you may know, tenants labour was providing fertile ground for child labour; it was also providing fertile ground for forced labour; now that it is abolished, that’s why we are talking about developing standard contracts that will define the relationship between employer and the worker in the tobacco sector.”

According to the commissioner, the current push is for tobacco workers to be paid monthly wages. 

“You see, tobacco is produced by smallholder farmers and large estate owners. We have seen that some farmers are complaining that they cannot afford to pay the monthly wages, but since we have the law, we just need to find ways how these farmers can be empowered so that they comply with the law,” he said.

“What has prompted us to do this is that as ECAM [Employers Consultative Association of Malawi] under ILO, we carried out a training needs assessment, and one of the things that was highlighted there was that many companies or personnel companies are not aware of international labour standards,” George Khaki - executive director of ECAM - said. “Actually, it was 62 per cent of them who indicated that they were not aware of international labour standards.”

“So we thought this was a good platform for us to bring the knowledge on international labour standards today, but we are also trying to promote the use of standard contracts; we know that tenants labour was abolished in 2021 in the employment act, which means there will be normal employment relationship for players in the tobacco (sector), and to facilitate that, we are developing a standard contract that can be adopted and be used by the majority of players that do not have capability to develop contracts,” Mr Khaki added.

Source: Tobacco Reporter

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

Malawi’s government has announced its commitment to ensuring that there is “decent work” for tobacco sector employees, Tobacco Reporter reports.

 According to reporting from Malawi24.com, labour commissioner Hlalerwayo Kelvin Nyangulu made the announcement during a workshop on improving knowledge of labour laws, issues and compliance. 

“In 2021, the employment act was amended, and we actually abolished tenants labour in Malawi,” Mr Nyangulu said. “So, (the) government is really committed to ensure that we have decent work in the tobacco sector.

“What is important now is that a decision has been made, a law has been enacted, so what is happening is that as I speak, tenants labour is abolished in Malawi. As you may know, tenants labour was providing fertile ground for child labour; it was also providing fertile ground for forced labour; now that it is abolished, that’s why we are talking about developing standard contracts that will define the relationship between employer and the worker in the tobacco sector.”

According to the commissioner, the current push is for tobacco workers to be paid monthly wages. 

“You see, tobacco is produced by smallholder farmers and large estate owners. We have seen that some farmers are complaining that they cannot afford to pay the monthly wages, but since we have the law, we just need to find ways how these farmers can be empowered so that they comply with the law,” he said.

“What has prompted us to do this is that as ECAM [Employers Consultative Association of Malawi] under ILO, we carried out a training needs assessment, and one of the things that was highlighted there was that many companies or personnel companies are not aware of international labour standards,” George Khaki - executive director of ECAM - said. “Actually, it was 62 per cent of them who indicated that they were not aware of international labour standards.”

“So we thought this was a good platform for us to bring the knowledge on international labour standards today, but we are also trying to promote the use of standard contracts; we know that tenants labour was abolished in 2021 in the employment act, which means there will be normal employment relationship for players in the tobacco (sector), and to facilitate that, we are developing a standard contract that can be adopted and be used by the majority of players that do not have capability to develop contracts,” Mr Khaki added.

Source: Tobacco Reporter

(Link and quotes via original reporting)