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Danielle Wong
The minister of Labour and industrial relations, Showkutally Soodhun, finds it hard to accept that the labour force is not attracted to the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) sector. Why are Mauritians not interested in factory work?</B>
As you may be aware, EPZ means export implying export level international competition, international discipline and hard work. The general feeling is that people in the EPZ work harder than those in the civil service, for example. The latter have fewer working hours and are not concerned at all with the concept of quality and productivity. It is also known that Mauritius is moving through the development cycle, that is after the agricultural & the manufacturing we are getting into services.
There are 22 000 foreign workers in Mauritius. Do industrials really want to replace them by Mauritians, as the minister demands? </B>
Of course they want to employ Mauritians because guest workers are more costly and there are lots of problems linked to the management of these people with different cultural backgrounds. The core competence of a factory is to produce goods, not to get involved in the organisation of dormitories and food etc. Many enterprises have no other choice than to have recourse to guest workers, who are multi-skilled and more adaptable.
<B>What measures should be taken to attract Mauritians to factory work?</B>
We are working in partnership with various organisations on a complete image building of the manufacturing sector. The whole country should be more appreciative of the contribution of this sector, which employs 80,000 people and produces some 180 million garments yearly. We should campaign for taking responsibility and making the difference in our society.
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