Mayotte: 7th week of strike for Orange employees

(Agence Ecofin) - Since July 2015, employees of the regional branch of mobile telephone operator Orange Mayotte are on strike. They are outraged at the non-respect by the general management of the company of the agreements signed in May 2015 on the salary increase of 120 Euros per month backdated to January 2012. Negotiations for this “rising cost of living” bonus came about after the increase in prices in 2011 of staple goods. Employees of Orange Mayotte are claiming same should be done as for their colleagues in Réunion.

The protest movement is from this Monday 31 August 2015 in its seventh week. Out of 32 workers campaigning at the beginning of the protest, 24 were mobilised in from the office of the company.

The last negotiation to take place in order to find a solution and held on 27 August 2015, did not result in any agreement. Both parties refuse to concede and are maintaining their positions.

Mayotte, located in the Comoros archipelago, in Mozambique Channel, officially became a French department in 2011. Mdahoma Amed, delegate for the union Syndicat Télécom, explained that this change of status for the island required an increase in salary based on the cost of living in the department, as was done for Réunion. Regional Management for Orange is opposing this.