By Rennie Tembo

Lilongwe, April 7, Mana: 41 former employees of Carlsberg Malawi, now known as Castel, have submitted their petition to the Lilongwe District Commissioner's Office, requesting dialogue with their former employer to resolve outstanding matters.

Speaking in an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA), on Monday after handing over the petition, Chairperson for the group, Numeri Elisa said the matter has been in courts since 2016, about employees working under the same condition, qualification and all working same hours, but receiving different salaries

He said: “in 2014 Carlsberg introduced a new payment system called Clean wages aimed at simplifying things, which was going well, until January 2015 when the company implemented a 20 percent salary increment for all warehouse employees across three regions. It was this period when we noted salary discrepancies, with some employees receiving K70, 000 while others got K58, 000”.

He further said they have been discussing with the company, but the two parties were unable to come to an agreement, which led to the employees filing a lawsuit against the company at the Iindustrial relations court, in October 2016.

‘’Ever since we filed the case, we have been facing many challenges, especially due to prolonged court proceedings. We have decided to take the matter to the District Commissioner, requesting him to facilitate dialogue with our former employer, so our concerns are address our concerns’’ he said.

Speaking after receiving the petition, the Lilongwe District Commissioner, Dr Lawford Palani commended the former Castel employees, for following the right procedures in presenting their petition.

‘’My duty is to receive the petition and deliver to the relevant authorities, but be assured that your concerns will be addressed, and efforts will be made to find a solution’’ he stated.

The 41 employees have given the DC up to 7 days to convene a roundtable meeting with their former employer Carlsberg Malawi.