Prime Minister Visits Largest Insurance Company

allAfrica

Maputo — Mozambique's largest insurance company, EMOSE, recorded a growth of 18 per cent in its business in 2014.

Increased demand for insurance services led to profits in the year of 221 million meticais (about 5.8 million US dollars, at current exchange rates), EMOSE officials told Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario when he visited the company's Maputo headquarters on Wednesday.

EMOSE resulted from the merger of the three insurance companies which operated in Mozambique during the colonial era, and was initially 100 per cent state owned. Currently the Mozambican state holds 39 per cent of the shares, the government's Institute for the Management of State holdings 31 per cent, and GETCOOP, the cooperative formed by EMOSE workers and managers, 20 per cent. The remaining 10 per cent was sold by the Mozambican government on the Mozambican Stock Exchange in 2013.

During his visit, Rosario wanted to hear from the EMOSE workers. At their meeting with the Prime Minister, they took the opportunity to call for better working conditions.

The representative of the EMOSE trade union committee, Jacinto Timoteo, speaking in the name of all the staff, claimed that the company's managers isolate themselves from the rest of the employees. He said there was a “lack of communication” and no space for dialogue in which the institution's problems might be discussed.

constant violations” of the workers' rights, including failure to grant progression along the career ladder. He also called for a wage rise.

The EMOSE chairperson, Antonio Carrasco, replied that since last November the company has been working to ensure career progression for the staff. He promised that forums for discussion in the company will be reinstated, to ensure dialogue between workers and management.

“I have been working with the executive commission to prioritise dialogue with the staff”, he said, “because we always want to be up-to-date with the daily situations facing our workers”.

Rosario advised Carrasco to keep in closer contact with his staff. He promised that he would delegate to the Labour Ministry, in coordination with the Finance Ministry, the task of assessing whether the workers' complaints are being taken into account by the management.