About 2,000 people working in Mauritian sugar industry on Saturday demonstrated in the streets of Port-Louis to demand an increase in their wages in addition to an equitable share of riches in the island.
The demonstrators, who were carrying placards and other banners, invaded the streets of the capital for more than an hour, before moving to the headquarters of the Mauritian Sugar Producers Association (MSPA), where the trade unionists spoke to the management.
Serge Jauffret, the chairman of the union, CSG-Solidarity, said that the sugar companies had accumulated huge riches produced by workers and self-employed craftsmen for several decades.
â?They set up the capital which the companies have invested in other economic sectors of the country, gaining huge profits,â? he said, and expressed regret t hat 5,500 workers in the sugar industry had not benefited from any increase in t h eir wages since 2000.
He said they produced the same quantity of sugar with less workers.
The trade union also demanded an equitable sharing of riches in the island, with an increase of 1,000 rupees in wages for all workers in the country’s economic sectors, a drop in the electricity prices, a free solar water-heater to all families, a drop in the cost of Internet and the restoration of the right to strike.
