Workers back MPs on wage review

Police block members of a trade union from demonstrating at the Constitutional Square last May during the Labour Day celebrations. Labour unions want a workers’ minimum wage to protect them from exploitation. PHOTO BY ISAAC KASAMANI. 

By Mercy Nalugo

Posted  Monday, February 25  2013 at  02:00

In Summary

Labour unions say they have been lobbying for a minimum wage for a long time but leaders had failed to appreciate their contribution to the economy.

Kampala

Workers have backed a move by MPs drafting a private members’ Bill seeking to revise the country’s minimum wage.

The workers, through their labour unions, said they had lobbied the government for years to enact a law to save them from exploitation but there has been lack of political will. “We have been impressed by our representatives and we fully support them. Our workers have been exploited for years yet they deserve better,” Mr Wilson Owere, the National Organisation of Trade Unions chairperson, said.

The Bill, if passed into law, will introduce a minimum hourly amount that employers will pay their workers. Mr Owere said the Bill had been delayed since Uganda is the only country in East Africa without it. “We want a minimum wage sector by sector. We have over the years made a lot of noise to have a law on minimum wage but the government has not responded and we feel enough is enough,” Mr Owere said.

Dr Sam Lyomoki, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions secretary general, said whereas the MPs’ move is commendable, the government lacked the political will to defend workers’ interests. “The biggest challenge in the country is the fact that leaders do not appreciate the workers’ contribution to the economy,” Dr Lyomoki said.

MPs last week moved a bi-partisan motion seeking to revise the country’s minimum wage.
Workers’ MP Arinaitwe Rwakajara moved the motion supported by Mr Paul Mwiru ( Jinja Municipality East, FDC) and Mr James Mbahimba [Kasese Municipality, NRM).

The House overwhelmingly welcomed the motion and granted Mr Rwakajara leave to draft the Bill. The legislators also want employers who fail to comply with the Bill to pay a fine of Shs10 million and compensate workers.

Trade unionists have called for a review of labour laws but the government has not heeded to their demands. Their efforts have, however, met with steady resistance from the government, amid lobbying by some private sector interests.

mnalugo@ug.nationmedia.com