Kampala – As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark International Labor Day, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are calling for an independent ministry in charge of labor to adequately handle concerns of workers in the country.
They say the existing Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development is unable to deliver appropriately since it handles many departments which are not labour related.
“For instance the departments of women, youth, children, people with disabilities, the elderly and others aren’t related to labour or workers’ issues. We need an independent ministry that will handle workers’ issues. It can be combined with public service and social security to become one ministry so that it’s able to monitor workers,” said Usher Wilson Owere, the president general of the National Union of Trade Unions (NOTU).
He was speaking at a press conference held in Kampala on Sunday organised by SEATINI Uganda together with NOTU, FIDA Uganda, Action Aid International Uganda, Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, UCCA and Voices For Labour.
The CSOs in a joint statement expressed concern over the continued violation and abuse of workers’ rights in Uganda.
They said the labour rights abuses are experienced especially by vulnerable groups like women, youth and people with disabilities.
This, they noted is partly because there are glaring gaps in labor rights policies and the administration of the existing laws which has contributed to the rampant casualization of labor, fissured employment relationships, poor and precarious working terms and conditions, lack of adequate maternity protection, unfair dismissals, low wages, inadequate occupational safety and health and insufficient social protection.
They also raised concerns about the lack of a viable minimum wage, inadequate judges at the industrial court, lack of labour officers in some districts, and poor monitoring of Ugandan migrant workers among others.
It should be noted that the government of Uganda is making efforts towards enforcing and strengthening legislations that promote labour rights and administration in Uganda.
Such efforts include the ongoing labour law reforms (Employment Amendment Bill, 2022), Employment (Sexual Harassment Regulations, 2012), and National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, among others.
