LABOUR DAY SUPPLEMENT

1.1 Uganda today joins the rest of the World to celebrate the International Labour Day. The International Labour Day is celebrated to recognize the dignity of labour and the impor-tant contribution that it makes towards the social, economic and political development of the country.

1.2 This year the Labour Day Celebrations are being held at St. Paul Secondary School, Mutolere, in Kisoro District un-der the theme ‘Accelerating Social Economic Transforma-tion through promotion of the Decent Work Agenda, Social Justice and Equity’. The theme seeks to significantly improve specific socio-economic devel-

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY MAY 1st 2015

PRESS STATEMENT by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Hon. Mukasa-Muruli-Wilson Minister of Gender, Labour and

Social Development

Hon. Kamanda BataringayaState Minister for Labour,

Employment and Industrial Relations

Pius Bigirimana, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of

Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Staff of MGLSD conducting an inspection.

opment indicators pertinent to transformation. The achievements registered by Government in the Labour Sub-Sector are highlighted below:

1.4.1 Operationalisation of the Industrial Court.The Industrial Court is estab-lished by law under Section 7 of the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 2006 (No. 8) with the mandate to arbitrate on labour disputes referred to it; and to adjudicate upon ques-tions of law and fact arising from references to the Indus-trial Court by any other law. The Chief Judge, Judge and panel-ists of the Industrial Court were appointed and the court is now functional.

1.4.3 Medical Arbitration BoardThe Medical Arbitration Board has so far handled 72 cases this

by the Minister responsible for Labour to advise on minimum wages and determine other conditions of employment for any employees or groups of em-ployees in any occupation he may consider.

1.4.7 Promotion of Occupational Safety and healthGovernment through, the min-istry is implementing provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2006 including the registration of workplaces, licensing and certification of equipment. So far more than 800 workplaces have been registered. The ministry has also taken action against some non compliant institutions and will soon prosecute those who have not registered.

Unlike general labour inspec-tion, occupational safety and health remains a centralized function of the MGLSD with OSH inspectors concentrated in the Ministry offices in Kampala both in terms of policy development and provision of services. There are in fact no OSH special-ists working in the districts. The OSH Department has a total of 26 staff out of a possible 48 budgeted positions (22 vacant posts). The inability of the OSH inspectors to effectively cover the entire Ugandan territory has drawn calls for the Ministry to place OSH inspectors at the district level.

1.4.2 Labour Advisory BoardThe Board is a tripartite advisory body on the labour and em-

ployment matters established under section 21 of the Employ-ment Act No. 6of 2006.

year.This is aimed at resolving dis-putes related with health issues at workplace.

Accident cases referred to the Medical Arbitration BoardIndustry No. Referred No. handled Total

Male Female Decided PendingManufacturing 27 1 15 13 28Agriculture 3 1 3 1 4Services 13 4 14 3 17Processing 6 2 4 4 8Construction 57 0 36 21 57Horticulture 0 0 0 0 0TOTAL 106 8 72 42 114

Tripartite Industrial Relations Charter The Industrial Tripartite Charter was signed on the 23rd May 2013 between the Government, Em-ployers and Workers’ Represen-tatives. Tripartism and social dia-logue is a strategy that provides a unique forum for government, employers and the workers to meet together to effectively identify problems in the world of work, and together find possible solutions. The Tripartite Charter is now fully operational. The ex-istence of an Industrial relations Charter has greatly enhanced industrial peace and harmony.

1.4.4 Decent Work Country Pro-gramme IIThe Decent Work Country Programme 11 was launched in August 2013 and the imple-mentation is on-going. The priorities of DWCP II are to improve industrial relations, productivity, and adherence to labour standards through

strengthening of labour. Decent work is work that al-lows the worker to live a life of dignity, work in a conducive environment and be protected by law so that he/she does not put his or her life and health at risk. The Decent work Agenda comprises of the following four pillars namely:(a) The Promotion of Stan-dards and Fundamental Prin-ciples and Rights at Work,(b) The creation of employ-ment,(c) The enhancement of social protection, and,(d) The strengthening of so-cial dialogue.

1.4.5 Reactivation of the of the Minimum Wages Advisory BoardSection 3 (1) and (2) of the Mini-mum Wages Advisory Boards and Wages Councils Act, Cap 224 ( Annex 1), Laws of Uganda, provides for the establishment of the Minimum Wages Board

LABOUR DAY SUPPLEMENT

Senior Officials from MGLSD led by the PS, Pius Bigirimana in-specting an Oil and Gas facility.

Proportion of inspected work-places

b) Number of workers in the inspected work-places

The total number of workers found in the inspected work-places was 23,211. Of these 16,884 were male and 6,327

3.0 Activities Organized to mark the International Labour Day Cel-ebrations:3.1 The National Celebrations are preceded by a Labour week which involves several activities including HIV/AIDs counselling and testing, cleaning of Mutolere Town Council, and tree planting among others. 3.2 The 28th April is part of the la-bour week and was commemo-rated as the World Day of Occu-pational Health and Safety. On this day, we commemorate the victims of work related accidents and dis-eases.

3.3 As we celebrate this year’s In-ternational Labour Day, let us pay homage to Uganda’s sons and daughters who have contributed greatly to the revival of our country.

3.4 The Government of Uganda wishes to express its sincere appre-ciation to the social partners (Em-ployers’ and workers’ organization, our development Partners, Civil Society Organisations, and Private Sector) who have been supportive and are continuing to support it in generating employment especially for our youth.

3.5 Finally, we wish all the workers of Uganda peaceful celebrations. We take this opportunity to invite ev-eryone to the national celebrations in Kisoro District Local Government. The Ministry also requests all district officials in the rest of the Country to organize Labour Day Celebrations in their respective districts.

FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY

1.4.8 Externalisation of Labour

The Government established the External Employment Unit in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development un-der Statutory Instrument No. 62 of 2005, The Employment (Re-cruitment of Ugandan Migrant Workers Abroad) enhanced coordination, licensing of pri-vate recruitment agencies and facilitating access to job op-portunities abroad.

Government has also prepared and will soon sign Bi-Lateral Agreements with Labour re-ceiving countries.

1.4.9 Labour InspectionsDuring F/Y 2013/14, a total of 150 labour inspections were conducted; 107 were routine,

20 were spot inspections while 23 were follow-up inspections. Since the beginning of FY 2014/15, 117 labour inspections have been conducted.Most of the routine inspections were carried out in the service industry (80), followed by pro-cessing (40) and manufactur-ing (20) respectively. The least number of inspections were carried out in the mining and quarrying industry (10).

a) Inspected WorkplacesProportionally, the majority of the inspected work places were in the service industry with (45%) followed by processing industry (24%) and manufac-turing industry (19%). The least visited was in mining and quar-rying industry (2%) as shown in the figure below:

were female. Manufacturing sector had the biggest number of employees (8,011), followed by processing (4,129) and con-struction (3,857). While females were generally fewer in wage employment than males, a sig-nificant number is employed in the manufacturing and pro-cessing sectors. The females, however, dominated the ser-vices sector.

Table 2.1: Number of workers by particular industry and sex

Industry No. of workers

Male Female TotalManufacturing 6061 1950 8011Agriculture 1300 781 2081Services 2244 1885 4129Processing 3732 1303 5035Construction 3457 400 3857Mining and quarrying 90 8 98

Total 16,884 6,327 23,211

c) Labour unionsThe department has registered 40 labour unions; of these 20 are af-filiated to NOTU and 18 to COFTU while 2 are independent.By sector, there are 10 unions under agriculture, 6 in telecommunica-tion, teaching institutions have 4, Medical 2, Hotel 1, Mines 2, Enter-tainment 2, printing 1,textile 1,elec-tricity 1 among others.

d) Labour unionsThe department has registered 40 labour unions; of these 20 are af-filiated to NOTU and 18 to COFTU while 2 are independent.By sector, there are 10 unions under agriculture, 6 in telecommunica-tion, teaching institutions have 4,

Medical 2, Hotel 1, Mines 2, Enter-tainment 2, printing 1,textile 1,elec-tricity 1 among others.

2.0 COMMITMENTS BY GOVERN-MENTGovernment is committed to: Pro-vision of productive work oppor-tunities, ensuring good wages to workers as the economy improves, Promoting security of tenure in workplaces, Promoting safety and health issues in workplaces, Expanding social protection cover-age for workers and their families, Strengthening social dialogue be-tween employees and employers, Elimination of all forms of child la-bour and combating trafficking of persons.

Uganda’s population has grown with the following pattern: 16,67m, (1991); to 35.63m, (2013) and current-ly, 36.6m, (2014). It is pro-jected to grow to 37.91m in 2015. Uganda’s labour force is expected to reach 19m by 2015. The labour market will absorb 8.2m people by 2015.The policy conundrum however the inability of the economy to harness the population dividend is.

Uganda’s labour force contributes enormously to economic development. The current wage bill both for the private sector and public sector workers has contributed to boost ag-gregate demand. Besides national earnings from both the private and public sector wage bills, Uganda’s labour has contributed to national capital accounts and current account through remittances from both abroad and overseas. This has supported both consumption and invest-ment.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT SECTOR

Over 90% of Uganda’s ex-ports are raw materials from extractive industries. The industrial sector is still largely informal producing low quality goods, char-acterized by deficiencies in technology and skills. There is need for regional labour and industrial tech-nology competitiveness so as to harness the regional economic potential. The education system; rudi-mentary technology, non-conducive work environ-ments and weak labour market information sys-tems have delayed region-al market penetration. This is not withstanding Ugan-da’s challenge regarding competence in Kiswahili language as a medium of communication in East and Central Africa.

Uganda spent 0.41% of its GDP on Research and De-velopment in 2009; while, correspondingly, Burundi spent a paltry 0.41% and 0.41% as well as 0.12% of its GDP on Research and Development in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. This

expenditure pales in com-parison with the following countries: Australia, 2.38%, (2010); Brazil, 1.16%, (2010); Canada, 1.74%, (2011); Den-mark, 3.09%, (2011); Israel, 4.39%, (2011); Japan, 3.26%, (2011); Netherlands, 2.04%, (2011); the United Kingdom, 1.77%, (2011) and the USA, 2.77%, (2011), Limited ex-penditure on research and development sequestrates imagination, creativity and innovation and hampers labour productivity, market access and penetration as well as revenues from hi-tech goods, works and services from lucrative re-gional, and international markets. As such Uganda continues to import more than it exports, creating a negative current account.

Therefore, labour and em-ployment are critical in economic development to wit: labour co-ordinates other factors of the produc-tion process and as such, it is the engine of economic growth and development; while on the other hand, employment avails house-

hold incomes at both in-dividual and household levels. This has a multiplier effect. This effect is dem-onstrated through forward

SOCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PLAN LABOUR SECTOR RESOURSE ALLOCATION

Department

Medium Term (2012/13 - 2014/15 FY 2012/13 FY 2013/14

Value (bn)Percent-age

Percent-age

Value

(bn) Percentage

Community Mobili-zation and Empow-erment 7.609 4.340 4.435 2.63 10.815

Mainstreaming Gender Rights and other Social devel-opment 7.755 4.423 4.462 1.697 6.979

Promotion of La-bour Productivity and Employment 6.6358 3.785 4.040 3.934 16.178

Policy, planning and Support Services 20.99 11.971 13.784 7.016 28.852

Social Protection for Vulnerable Groups 132.349 75.482 73.279 9.04 37.176

Total 100.000 100.000

and backward linkages. A worker consumes a good, work or service from a shop or, a factory or, any

other enterprise. An enter-prise then earns revenue; it pays taxes and employs others in a cyclical pattern.

LABOUR DAY SUPPLEMENT

By Frank Mugabi

After 10years in abeyance, the Industrial Court of Uganda is finally back to its feet following the passion-ate effort of the recently transferred Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Pius Bigirimana.This comes as good news to all employees given the court’s mandate to arbitrate on labour disputes.Established by law under Section 7 of the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 2006, the Industrial Court operates as an autonomous court under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Develop-ment.According to the commis-sioner Labour, Industrial Relations and productivity, Patrick Okello, the none-functionality of the court had created a pile up of up to 2,013 unheard disputes.The cases originated from the civil division of the High Court, Ministry of Gender, KCCA, districts and Munici-palities.“The huge case backlog, as you can expect, had resulted in unwarranted suf-fering of several aggrieved employees,” Okello said, adding that Bigirimana had shown interest in the mat-ter upon his transfer until he worked out the court’s reinstatement.So far, the court has dis-posed off 20cases since its reactivation, which re-mains a drop in the ocean although a step in the right direction.Besides arbitrating on Labour disputes, the court also holds legal mandate to adjudicate upon ques-tions of law and fact arising from references to it by any other law; and dispose of the labour disputes referred to it without undue delay.Currently headed by Justice Ruhinda Asaph Ntengye, the court is

statutorily supposed to be led by five individuals, consisting of two judges – a chief judge and a judge of the High Court – as well as three panelists including a workers representative, an employers’ representa-tive and an independent member. Justice Lillian Tumusiime Mugisha is the other judge at the court.The Industrial Court is fully constituted, and is located in Ntinda, a Kampala suburb.The Permanent Scretary Pius Bigirimana revealed that the court can hear an array of cases including; dismissal of workers who have been referred to the Industrial Court by the Minister, Commissioner Labour or Labour Officer; Trade disputes between employers/workers/trade unions which have been referred to the Industrial Court; Applications by any party bound by an Award or collective agreement for the interpretation / amendment / variation thereof; and Applications made by any party bound by an Award to refer to the High Court on

questions of law.The court can also hear complaints of non- com-pliance of an Award or collective agreement; and cases of victimization in connection with trade union activities.

Bigirimana explained that the court can have numer-ous contributions to the economy through enhanc-ing equity, expeditious set-tlement of labour disputes and promotion of industrial peace and harmony which are a prerequisite for con-ducive business/employ-ment. “Strikes and lock outs suffocate business and ad-versely affect employment/job creation.” He noted.

He said awards by the Industrial court are also a source of income/capital for investment. By saving and investing the proceeds from the court awards, the beneficiaries can be able to engage in business and employment creation.

“The Industrial Court, which is the apex of the industrial

PS BIGIRIMANA GETS INDUSTRIAL COURT BACK TO ITS FEET AGGRIEVED EMPLOYEES URGED TO SEEK REDRESS

relations machinery, plays a critical role in improv-ing working conditions to achieve higher productivity as well as labour justice which are important in busi-ness/employment enhance-ment. With a productive labour force an enterprise will grow by creating new businesses and employ-ment opportunities.” Bigiri-mana said.

He also noted that govern-ment can invest proceeds from taxes charged by the court, hence, creating busi-ness/employment.

By promoting good indus-trial relations, the Industrial Court helps to create a sound, stable macro-economic environment that attracts rising private and direct foreign investments. By so doing it contributes towards business and em-ployment creation.

Furthermore, the industrial court protects the rights of both the employers and workers in the private sec-tor. A growing private sector is an engine for business,

wealth creation and em-ployment for Uganda.The Court promotes ac-ceptable labour standards. A system that, inter alia, permits rising standards in line with improvement in productivity and perfor-mance is crucial for busi-ness/employment.

Bigirimana called for further government support to ensure that the court func-tions to its full capacity and expeditiously disposes off the backlog cases.During the 7th Uganda Law Society annual rule of law symposium held in October last year, it was noted that in spite of the numerous laws and policies, many Ugandans still suffer work-place hardships due to an unfavourable work environ-ment as enforcement and compliance to the policies and the legislation obtain-ing remains largely lacking.

It was also discussed and agreed that lawyers have an important role to play in championing decent labour as defenders of social and economic rights. It was

suggested that the govern-ment fund could facilitate legal representation for labour disputes, and that the existing pro bono efforts should be publicized. It was noted that a draft legal aid policy from Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) was presented over two years ago and is still await-ing cabinet approval.

The panel also raised the concern about employ-ers having the advantage of hiring good lawyers who can champion their interests to the detriment of many employees in Uganda who are unable to afford a lawyer.

The symposium held under the theme: “Labour Rights In Uganda: Making Decent Work A Reality” further noted with concern that Ugandan employers as a whole do not value labour and perceive fairly paid employees as a risk.

The lawyers agreed to con-tinue championing social justice, specifically by play-ing an instrumental role in defending labour rights.

Pius Bigirimana Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Gender, Labour

and Social Development.

Patrick OkelloThe commissioner Labour, Industrial Relations

and Productivity.