By Wezzie Gausi:
The Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) has said 106 employees have been earmarked for retrenchment as the company is going through a rightsizing process.
The corporation has 693 employees.
The corporation’s spokesperson Idah Nkolimbo said as part of the retrenchment activity, employees are entitled to three-month notice of pay as per their employment contract.
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She said the employees are also entitled to severance pay, which will be calculated based on the corporation’s conditions.
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“Any accrued and approved unused leave days will be commuted and paid to you. The pension benefits will be processed in accordance with the Pension Act of 2023, ensuring that employees receive the full benefits they are entitled to.
“Employees will also be provided [with] transport from their duty station to their home. Employees are supposed to request transportation within one year; that is, up to September 30 2024,” Nkolimbo said.
Meanwhile, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions Secretary General Madalitso Njolomole has described the development as unfortunate.
He said the development is unfortunate because the retrenchment is happening at a time the government and its socio-economic partners are in the process of implementing policies on job creation across sectors to ensure that Malawi meets its decent work aspirations, including Malawi 2063 goals.
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“This is in contrast to our aspirations as a nation, and is happening in a country where only 9 percent of the people are employed against the millions who are searching for jobs as a sustainable way of escaping the vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.
“Therefore, MCTU makes the following recommendations for urgent action; that workers, through their union, be engaged for possible alternatives, possible innovative and bailout by government be employed as happens in other countries,” Njolomole said.
Recently, MPC said it was struggling financially and that it needed about K42 billion to settle debts and invest in viable business that will help it turn into a profit-making entity.
MPC acting Postmaster General Zacheaus Meke told the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communications that the corporation is choked with a K10 billion debt at a time it also wants to address staff welfare issues.
