UCID condemns TACV management salary increase and questions whether there are resources to raise minimum wage to 30 escudos

At a press conference at the party's regional headquarters in the city of Praia, the leader of the Independent and Democratic Cape Verdean Union (UCID, opposition) said that this increase represents "a break in political coherence, respect for the law and social justice", stressing that the country needs to rediscover moral and political coherence.

According to João Santos Luís, until 2016 the salaries of public managers were defined by a resolution of the council of ministers, but with the political alternation, the Movement for Democracy (MpD, power) decided to create a diploma to harmonize salaries and impose a maximum limit of 300 billion escudos.

"In theory, the measure seemed to promote transparency and rationality in public management, but in practice, however, the principle of harmonization has been systematically ignored," he stressed, highlighting the 50% increase in the new salary earned by the chairman of TACV's board of directors, Armindo Sousa.

According to the leader, Cabo Verde Airlines (TACV) is a public company "with liabilities of more than 25 million escudos, a large part of which is guaranteed by the state", which ends up transforming the debt into "charges borne by all Cape Verdeans".

According to the leader, Cabo Verde Airlines (TACV) is a public company "with liabilities of more than 25 million escudos, a large part of which is guaranteed by the state".

"UCID is not against decent salaries, on the contrary, we believe that those who take on great responsibilities should be fairly remunerated", he defended.

The same source maintained that it rejects the logic of permanent exception, in which "the law applies to some and is ignored by others at the whim of political convenience".

João Santos Luís also considered that if the country has the capacity to pay salaries of 450 escudos, then "there should also be resources to value humble workers", pointing to the increase in the minimum wage from 19 to 30 escudos as an example.

In the same vein, he pointed to an improvement in retirement and survivor's pensions from six to ten cents, and the resolution of the state's debts to former EMPA employees, "who have been waiting for decades for justice".

The UCID leader also called for the resolution of pending issues with ex-military personnel from 1975, former workers of the Justino Lopes company, from the municipality of Santa Cruz, who remain victims of "inertia and insensitivity", as well as the creation of better conditions for university students from low-income families.

"We can no longer demand sacrifices from the people while privileges are maintained for an administrative elite," he stressed, adding that "a strong state is not measured by the height of its managers' salaries, but by the depth of the social justice it guarantees its people".

The UCID took a stand on its commitment to "ethical and socially responsible governance", defending a state that "respects the law, values work" and better distributes resources, with true social justice."

The general meeting of TACV, held on October 21, confirmed the election of Armindo Sousa as the new chairman of the board of directors and the integration of Mário Tavares, until then director of Quality, into the executive committee.

During the meeting, which took place in Praia, the proposal presented by Victor Fidalgo, the company's largest private shareholder, for a salary increase for the PCA to PTE 450, and for the directors to PTE 405, was also approved.

Inforpress