Workers’ association memo for adjusting Sudan’s minimum wages

The Sudanese Professionals Association has submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Labour calling for an increase in the minimum wages and to raise it from SDG 425 ($8.95) to SDG 8,664 ($182.40).

It pointed out that the minimum has not been adjusted during the last six years and that the amount of SDG 8,664 ($182.40*) is equivalent to the minimum value according to a study recently prepared by the union.

The study explained that the cost of living for a family of five people amounted to SDG 9,800 ($206.30).

The association called on the Sudanese Ministry of Labour to periodically review the minimum wages and adjust them based on inflation rates and the cost of living.

Salaries

Workers of Babanusa in West Kordofan decided to lift their strike after the long-awaited payment of their salaries on Tuesday. An activist said the salaries do not meet two per cent of the necessary living needs of workers.

An activist from Babanusa said the problem is that even if the salaries are received, they would be in the form of cheques. However, there is not enough liquidity in the banks to cover the salaries and that five of the 14 localities in West Kordofan have no banks at all. Workers’ cash-flow woes are further stressed by a major surge in prices of consumer goods in the markets.

* All SDG currency conversions are based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)