Asians who own shops in Mzuzu have agreed to increase salaries for their workers following a standoff that led to closure of shops.
On Thursday, there were negotiations between workers and Indians and Chinese nationals who own businesses in the city.
According to representative of the Indian and Chinese community John Kudzala, they have agreed to raise workers’ salaries by 60 percent.
“Business is back to normal now, we finally agreed to raise the wages to a minimum of K80,000 and this is not including other allowances. We met with both parties from Labour office, workers’ union and all relevant leaders.
“Closure of shops in two days was painful to us as well as Government because we lost business and Government also lost revenue from our everyday sales, so it’s something both of us suffered,” said Kudzala.
One of the workers Manuel Kasim said the increase is not enough but they are happy that at least the wage is up.
“I want to thank my fellow workers to come together and fight for this,” he said.
Malawi Government set K50,000 as the minimum of labour wage for workers.
