Getus’ response to the newly created Sets entity |30 June 2020
The new Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (Sets) is a new entity by the government of Seychelles which is raising a lot of questions and incertitude. The General Employer Trade Union of Seychelles (Getus) has attended a series of meetings where the scheme was presented to the private sector as a system where employees who will be made redundant during the period of the pandemic will be receiving the same financial support (the salary on which they were on before the redundancy) from the FA4JR scheme and on top they will be given possibility of professional development and eventually re-deployed in the world of work. On a second stage of the consultative meetings, the scheme was presented as an entity where the private sector will be one of the partners to the re-deployment of workers. This was sort of imposed, not really as a consultation. But the private sector accepted the idea of helping our fellow citizens and will support the programme to the best of its capability.
At this point many questions are coming up:
Why create a new scheme/entity to support employees who are made redundant when the solution should have been to pay the business in the first place so that years of training and investment in the employees will be preserved? The business in the private sector are not keen to make their valued staff redundant, they do so when they reach the point of no return.
Sets can also create a potential threat to the private sector: Sets has been announced to have areas of engagement, which will be categorised in 3 main areas: Placement in industry, Training, and National Workers Participation Programmes (NWPP). The big concern of the private sector is with regard to the 3rd area, the NWPP. This programme could create a direct competition to the private sector, especially for cleaning companies, maintenance, construction, landscaping etc. (ref to the environmental programmes, community works programmes, and supporting public and social institution)
In reference to an article published in the Seychelles NATION newspaper on June 23, 2020, Mr Guy Morel (the coordinator of the Sets) is quoted as saying: “…aside from employees who are made redundant, those who are still being employed by their organisations but are sitting idle by will be welcomed on board to join the programme.” End of quote. This is even more scary; it is like encouraging employees to join a more relaxed programme if they want, instead of being available or re-assigned within the same business for any upcoming work and needs.
The original programme presented as Sets is fully supported by Getus, but we will maintain some reservation on the latest development as the company which was originally presented is taking a completely new format.
Getus really hopes, for the good of its members and also for all the private sector, that this new scheme/programme/entity/company (so many names have been given that we do not really know what to call it) will really focus on employees being made redundant because of a company going out of business or forced to resize because of no business and not because were not assisted through the FA4JR scheme.
Getus invites all its members (in the private sector) to contact the secretariat.
Getus management