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Seychelles Labor
The government is the nation's largest employer,
providing
jobs for 38 percent of the wage-earning labor force in
1991. The
parastatal sector employed a further 26 percent, leaving
only 36
percent of workers in the private sector. The total labor
force
was about 29,600 in 1991; some 19 percent were domestic
workers,
self-employed, or family workers. The remainder were in
formal
wage employment. Hotel and restaurant workers formed the
largest
single category (14.1 percent), followed by transportation
(13.8
percent), manufacturing (11.2 percent), public
administration
(10.9 percent), and agriculture (9.1 percent).
The government establishes official minimum wages
depending
upon job classification, although most jobs are paid at
well
above the rates set. Average monthly earnings as of
mid-1992 were
about SRe2,750 in the government and parastatal sectors
and
SRe2,260 in the private sector. The differential was
caused by
high 1992 salary increases to government and parastatal
workers
amounting to 12.3 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively,
which
the private sector could not match. The Central Bank of
Seychelles has noted that wage inflation, which averaged
10.8
percent for the entire labor force, greatly exceeded the
retail
price inflation of 3.3 percent and could not be justified
by
corresponding productivity gains. The bank feared that the
government's salary awards would add to existing pressures
on the
country's cost base, its external competitiveness, and its
external accounts. , which is controlled by the SPPF. All
workers
are members because a percentage of their social security
contributions are earmarked for union dues. Workers can
elect
their own shop stewards, but candidates are screened by
the NWU
executive secretariat, which can dismiss any elected shop
steward. Workers can strike only with the permission of
the SPPF
Central Committee. Nevertheless, two labor disputes
occurred in
the changed 1992 political environment. Workers in the
main
electrical generating plant organized a brief shutdown,
winning
increased allowances in their compensation packages, and
stevedores struck for better conditions and higher
compensation.
To avoid disruption at a critical time for the industrial
fisheries sector, the government essentially met the
stevedores'
demands.
In November 1993, the National Assembly passed the
Trade
Union Industrial Act, which gave Seychellois workers the
right to
join and to form their own unions. Any such unions,
however, may
not compete with the overall NWU. One independent union
was
formed in late 1993.
In addition to approving collective bargaining
agreements and
reviewing private wage scales, the Ministry of Employment
and
Social Affairs can enforce employment conditions and
benefits.
With many free or subsidized public services, notably
education
and health, even workers at the low end of the pay scale
can
sustain their families at a basic level. Even so, many
families
rely on two or more incomes to deal with the high price
structure.
The government has set a legal work week of forty or
thirtyfive hours, depending on the occupation. With overtime,
the work
week may not exceed sixty hours. Workers are entitled to a
thirty-minute break each day and twenty-one days of paid
annual
leave. Comprehensive occupational health and safety
regulations
are enforced through regular workplace visits.
Data as of August 1994
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