URS, Beautification scheme-Workers get full time jobs |24 February 2006

All full-day Unemployment Relief Scheme (URS) participants who were working in public and parastatal organisations as at June 2005 will be formally employed with effect from February 1, 2006.

Likewise, government has created 729 posts for participants of the District Beautification Scheme, which will be fully transferred to the Ministry of Local Government and Sports and Culture (MLGSC).

At the same time, the government has decided that stevedores earning below the sectoral average salary of R3,763, will be allowed to join the URS during the period of inactivity in the port on a half-day basis.

These changes are outcomes of the series of consultative meetings held around Mahe and the work place visits made by President James Michel, and a review that followed, and also of pertinent salary reviews of public service employees.

A committee was set up to consider and make proposals to government regarding the implementation of the announced changes and to ensure that the review addressed those concerned and that they be implemented in a fair, transparent and equitable manner.

The principal secretary (PS) for employment, Jean Ragain, said this on Wednesday.

“Government has decided that all full-day URS participants working in public and parastatal organisations as at June 2005 should be formally employed with effect from February 1, 2006. As full-day URS participants they were receiving an allowance of R1,900 per month. Their new salary will be R2,200 taking into account the salary increase of R300 announced by the President in the budget speech,” Mr Ragain said.

He said that besides becoming entitled to all the benefits of a full time worker, such as annual and sick leave, which they were not fully entitled to as URS participants, they will also be eligible for pension.

He said that as for the full-day URS participants in the private sector and other non-governmental organisations, the government is making an appeal to the employers to consider formalising the employment of participants as and when possibilities arise.

“Many of those organisations have benefited from reduced social security contributions which translate into added benefits that can be used to fully employ the URS participants in their organisations.

He said that the Department of Employment will continue to assist job seekers to secure permanent employment in the first instance and entry onto the URS will only be used as the last resort.

The department will also endeavour to place current half-day participants into full time employment as the economy continues on its road to recovery and growth.

The district consultative meetings and a visit that the President made to Port Victoria, also saw emergence of an issue that was considered to be of great concern to the stevedores.

They said that because of fish stock migration and the seasonal nature of fisheries activities there is a period of about two to three months when they do not have work and thus have difficulty supporting themselves and their families.

There are two companies undertaking stevedore activities in Port Victoria and between them they have about 700 workers. They earn anything between R3,000 and R6,000 per month depending on the activities they are engaged in and the frequency with which they are called to work.

Mr Ragain said that whilst many of the workers are qualified in other trades such as masonry and carpentry, which permits them to secure employment in the construction industry or elsewhere, there are others who are genuinely in need of some form of assistance during the periods of inactivity at the port.

Mr Ragain said that the government has decided that the workers earning below the sectoral average salary of R3,763, would be allowed to join the URS over the period of inactivity in the port on a half-day basis.

“They would be primarily engaged in other activities but within the port itself such as cleaning, removing of unnecessary objects, painting etc. to unsure that the port is safe and hygienic. They would earn an allowance of not less than R1,400 per month,” he said.

The PS added that the workers would however be allowed to utilise the other half-day to engage themselves in any other productive activities if they so wish to earn a bit more.

“The arrangement for the source of the funding is being agreed between the Port Authority and the Government,” Mr Ragain said.

Regarding the District Beautification Scheme, he said it is a district-based programme aims at empowering the districts in maintaining cleanliness and to beautify public areas. “It was introduced in 1998 when the existing task force made up of URS participants was found to be inadequate to tackle all the tasks required. It started as a joint project between three ministries, MLGSC for administration, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for technical support and the Ministry of Employment and Economic Planning and for recruitment facilitation.

Mr Ragain noted that the Beautification Scheme operates on a full day basis and that its regular participants draw monthly R1,900 allowances, while team leaders get R2,300.

“As at November 2005 there were 729 participants including 47 team leaders,” he said.

“There was justification for the maintenance of the district-based work cohort to tackle works such as cleaning, landscaping, maintenance of drainage, clearing of marshes and general maintenance and upkeep of public property and infrastructure,” he said, adding that government has decided to create posts for the 729 participants under MLGSC.

He said that the participants will be based at district level and managed by the District Administrators.

“The Scheme will effectively fully transfer to MLGSC and further details of work arrangements will be provided by the ministry  eventually,” the PS said.

The salary of the regular participants will be R2,200 which takes into account salary increment announced by the President in the budget speech, while the team leaders will receive a salary of R2,600. The participants will also become pensionable from the date they joined the scheme. They will also be entitled to all the benefits enjoyed by fully fledged workers, that is, annual leave, sick leave and compensation, with effect from February 1, 2006.