Socioeconomic Development Chapter 6 have recently felt that the social reforms are favourable to employers and opposed to the interests of employees. The criticisms levelled against these reforms are a set of measures recently introduced in the legislation. They are reducing the notice period from three months to one month, restrictions to the right to strike and the right to demonstrate, as well as the sanctions imposed on certain union leaders for exercising their legitimate right to demonstrate peacefully. The criticisms are also about the government’s refusal to engage in dialogue. There has been no meeting with the prime minister for a year and a half and the minister of finance and economic empowerment has refused to reply to mails the trade unions have sent to him. The consequences of the measure are that the buying power of employees has deteriorated. The establishment of the independent NPC in 2007 was to have changed the way tripartite negotiations on salary compensation, which the trade unions fiercely criticised, are conducted. However, the NPC has not delegated representatives to serve on it. 310 Chapter 6 Socioeconomic Development Table 6.1: Compared variations in the wage rate and inflation rate (2000 was the base year with a real wage rate of 100) Year Nominal wage rate Inflation rate Real wage rate 2000 100.0 100.0 100.0 2001 105.0 106.3 98.8 2002 109.9 111.7 98.4 2003 122.7 116.1 105.7 2004 130.4 122.6 106.4 2005 136.9 128.8 106.3 2006 142.1 142.6 99.6 2007 148.2 155.2 95.5 2008 168.8 165.9 101.8 Source: Central Statistics Office (CSO). 17 April 2009. The base period was September 2000 for 2000 to 2006. After that, the base period was September 2006. 900. Employers and officials are also highly critical of the unions, which they often see as the opposition or as a hindrance that is seriously out of touch with the competitiveness and globalisation that comes with changing times. 902. The base of the statistical series was September 2000 until September 2006. Since then, the base has been September 2006. To keep the same series, the two series were combined. The inflation rate was that of the financial year and not the calendar year. 901. On examination, the wage policy has caused macroeconomic shocks and frustrations. Two bodies are responsible for it. These are the NPC (or tripartite forum comprising representatives of the unions, employers and the government), which is responsible for annual compensations, and the Pay Research Bureau (PRB), which is responsible for the salary increments that should accrue every five years to the public sector. The annual increments were low and compensated only partly for inflation over the past eight years, while the five-year increments for 2003 and 2008 were very high. During the third quarter of 2008, for example, the wage rate index increased by 18.5 points. It went from 109.7 to 128.2 points (or 16.9 per cent). They were much higher in the public sector (33.9 points or 32.8 per cent). 903. With these compensations, the real wage rate index will maintain the 2000 level. It may exceed it a little, but the improvements in productivity will only partly affect the standards of living of employees. 904. The absence of dialogue is a real concern. Mauritius’s only solution is to establish a fruitful partnership between the trade unions, employers and the government. 905. It needs a social model that acknowledges the different interests. It also needs a compromise. This will benefit the growth and development of the whole country, subject to concessions to, and mutual benefits for, the social stakeholders. A few countries – especially the Nordic countries – have successfully implemented such a model, and Mauritius could draw inspiration from it. 311