The Chamber of Deputies’ Plenary has requested the Ministry of Trade and Industry to resolve issues of ex-employees of SORWAL – a Huye-based matchstick manufacturer that closed shop in 2008 - who were not paid salaries for six months before they were laid off. Based in Huye district, SORWAL -- the Société Rwandaise des Allumettes -- is a factory that was making matchboxes, based in Huye District. The Lower House made the resolution on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 as it adopted a report of its Committee on Economy and Trade that analysed the petition by the concerned employees. While presenting the report to the Plenary Sitting, MP Spéciose Ayinkamiye, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Economy and Trade said that some representatives of former SORWAL employees told that on August 15, 2008, SORWAL suspended 150 SORWAL workers because the factory stopped operations [over lack of the needed raw materials]. But, she said, they were not paid salaries for six months that the factory owed them, and other benefits they are entitled to in accordance with the law, including terminal benefits. Gaston Nsabimana, one of the former SORWAL employees representing others told The New Times that fact that only 63 of them petitioned Parliament is that they could not register others as they were dispersed in different parts of Rwanda, and that they might have not gotten information about what was going on. He said that the factory managers had promised that the employees would be called to carry on work after what they called a ‘technical unemployment’ was over. But, he said, the factory never reopened since 2008, leaving the workers in a dilemma. Ayinkamiye said that from 2009, the affected former employees sought help from different institutions, including the Office of the Ombudsman, the Ministry of Public Service and Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry so that they are done justice, but their issue was not addressed. She pointed out that the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) told the Committee that, in 2018, it auctioned SORWAL in a bid to recover tax arrears estimated at Rwf2.8 billion, that the factory owed the authority. But, the auction only recovered Rwf168 million. Then, Ayinkamiye said RRA paid about Rwf16 million in benefits to 13 former workers of SORWAL who had sued the factory and had the enforcement orders from court. But, she indicated that the 63 workers were not paid over Rwf51 million they were owed in salaries, because their case was still before courts of law. And, when they got a court order in their favour, it was not enforceable because of the statute of limitation. “That’s why they petitioned the Parliament so that it makes advocacy for them to get justice,” she said, adding that they wrote to the Chamber of Deputies on September 19, 2019. Nsabimana, one of the former SORWAL employees, said that the factory investors promised them that they would address their problem amicably, something that did not happen. This situation, he said, delayed their process to take a legal action to court in order to claim their salary rights. Talking about the impact of the delay in getting their due benefits, Nsabimana said that it deteriorated the living conditions of workers in question, especially because they were not prepared for the suspension, were not paid salaries nor termination benefits. “It declined the affected workers’ livelihoods,” he said. Salaries should be adjusted to factor in inflation Meanwhile, Nsabimana said that the salaries that the former employees were demanding were based on the value of the Rwandan franc back in 2008 when the problem occurred. Given that the value of the Rwandan franc was high compared to the current situation where it declined and its purchasing power decreased, it would be better if the amount is adjusted by taking into account the current value and market prices. “If possible, we should be paid compensations, or the money we are owed is adjusted by factoring in inflation so that it matches the current high prices,” he said, indicating that prices of some foodstuffs increased considerably citing sugar whose cost rose from about Rwf300 in 2008 to about Rwf2,000 now.
