UPC proposes six action points to fix labour gaps

The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has said it is time for action to end injustices against Ugandan workers. In a proactive move, the party recommended six points of action.

They include; decentralisation of the industrial courts to regions with each with at least one judge, digitising labour inspection using the ILO Access to Justice Tool for Labour Self-Assessment, promoting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to reduce the case backlog in formal courts, passing the minimum wage law just like Kenya and Tanzania have.

Others are; establishing the salaries and remunerations commission as provided for in the 1995 Constitution of Uganda and finally, improving the workforce with increased investments in capital, work-based technology and human capital development.

The workers sector of the party in a statement to mark the International Labour Day 2024, highlighted that the widespread injustices were a bottleneck in the effective labour productivity.

“One glaring area is the gross disparities in salaries and remunerations among workers in Uganda. Political leaders have a lot of privileges and benefits compared to the mainstream public service and private sector. To be an MP, you need to have only S.6 or its equivalent as a qualification while to be a nursery school teacher, one must hold a degree. Yet an MP earns over 20m while a primary school teacher earns only about 480,000. This is unfair,” Michael Osinde Orach, the party national workers’ leader said.

Uganda on Wednesday, May 1, joined the rest of the world to mark the day under the theme; “Improving Access to Labour Justice: A Prerequisite for Increased Productivity.”

The national celebrations which President Yoweri Museveni presided over, were hosted at Mukabura Grounds, in Fort Portal City.

This day is commemorated in appreciation of the contribution of workers to national development. It is also used to raise both national and international consciousness on the importance of promoting and protecting the rights of workers. Furthermore, the day is an occasion for reminding workers of their responsibilities and obligations.

According to Osinde, the day is well aligned with UPC’s socialist ideology of ending poverty, ignorance and disease.

“UPC has always put workers at the centre of its development agenda since independence and that’s why even the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) was started by UPC in 1969.

Be that as it is, there is also no minimum wage law in Uganda. The last law was passed by UPC in 1982. It put the minimum wage at 6,000. To date, this has not been updated. All the above contribute to low productivity,” Osinde said.

Workers in Uganda according to Osinde have low productivity compared to their counterparts in East Africa.

He cites a 2023 report by the Economic Policy Research Centre, which measured the productivity of a worker in Uganda per hour at $3.53 while in Kenya it is $4.75.

“This is due to low skills, low pay and informality as 70% of the Ugandan workers don’t have contracts which is a violation of the Employment Act of 2006 (as amended). In fact, the International Trade Union Confederation ranks Uganda 4 out of 5 (where 5 is the lowest) on the Workers Human Rights Index,” he said.

He added; “Within the public service, there is selective increase in salaries and benefits for certain professions and agencies while others lag behind. Like for science teachers vs arts teachers yet they teach the same students and stay in the same compound. Across Boards and Commissions, there are no standard rates. While a driver in an agency may earn sh1.2m, a driver in public service earns sh280,000. Then Boards and Commissions award themselves benefits as they wish.”

He added that there are a few privileged at the top of the government getting hefty benefits at the expense of ordinary workers.

“Recently we saw former Speakers driving away with fuel-guzzling cars to be maintained by the government among many other benefits. Then we have the service award or the ‘Mpuuga award’ that the commissioners of Parliament gave themselves. Even when citizens were still making noise, Parliament without due regard last week extended that same ‘Mpuuga service award’ to the current Auditor General who is retiring soon. He was awarded 500m besides other benefits of getting a salary of the sitting Auditor General, a car, and a house. Yet this is an Auditor General who has been earning 36m per month as one of the most well-paid Ugandans. What about the ordinary workers; teachers, nurses, policemen, etc. What are their service awards?”  

He added that salary disparities in Uganda and low pay are some of the reasons for the high brain drain adding that even public servants also complain of a lack of adequate supplies to do their work effectively.

The World Bank estimates that 47% of Uganda’s skilled workers go abroad and that makes Uganda the 12th country with the most skilled workers who are working in OECD countries.

Osinde said the UPC government in the 80s established the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) for the training and development of public servants but it was closed in the 1990s. Then it was re-instated recently as the Civil Service Training College based in Jinja.

The other issues include occupation hazards in workplaces, especially in the factories where incidents have been alarming.

“Most workers don’t get adequate protection, treatment or compensation. This is common with some of the so-called investors,” he said.