BY DOROTHY NALUMANSI
Until President Museveni finally assents to the shelved Minimum Wage bill of 2015, the protracted fight for fair pay for workers in the country will still rage on as stakeholders push for employers to rethink their internal remuneration policies.
A meeting convened by President Museveni at State House in Nakasero two weeks ago shone a ray of hope on the faces of different stakeholders from the labor department as he nodded to the bill but hinging the final signature on maximum scrutiny.
“While I endorse minimum wage, I emphasise a careful approach because the NRM never engages in okutomera – bumping into things. It must come in a healthy manner,” he said.
The minimum wage was last set in 1984 and later revised in 1995 from Shs6, 000 to Shs75, 000 respectively on the recommendation of the minimum Wage Advisory Council. The fight has since been on from different unionists with critics saying this is one President Museveni’s government biggest dent when it comes to economic realignment with the job markets.
The 2015 minimum wage bill proposed to Shs250, 000 for the non-skilled labor force across bard giving advantages of as a way of reducing poverty through wealth redistribution to curb income inequalities.
However, the Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development in the second reading of the bill in parliament in 2019, some of the disadvantages that were given about the introduction of the minimum wage indicated that, “One of the most fundamental principles of economics is that people tend to buy more when the price is lower and less when the price is higher. A minimum wage, therefore, may increase the cost of labour, which in turn will increase the general cost of doing business thus reducing investments.”
Ms Betty Amongi the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development on Wednesday told journalists that she has selected a committee to review a report from the Minimum Wage Advisory Board and Wages Council Act of 1957 whose term had expired and would be reconstituted.
“We have started reviewing some of the issues that were raised in this report and we see how to address it because many employees have been complaining about this matter. Let’s see how it goes,” Ms Amongi said.
The 2024 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicated that 19.7 per cent of the Ugandan workforce is considered poor. Over 6.7 million people in Uganda live below the poverty line and an additional 43 per cent is highly vulnerable to falling into poverty.
This continued failure by the government to establish a minimum wage contravenes International Labour Organisation (ILO) Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No 26) which Uganda accented to in 1967.
Article 1 of this convention states that “each member of the ILO which ratifies this convention undertakes to create or maintain machinery whereby minimum rates of wages can be fixed for workers employed in certain trades or parts of trades in which no arrangement exists for the effective regulation of wages by collective agreement or otherwise and wages are exceptionally low.”
Dr Sam Lyomoki the Secretary General of the Central Organization of Free Trade Unions (COFT) says that there has always been a mismatch between the President and the workers’ representatives on how the minimum wage would work.
“When we met with the President yesterday, we agreed that we can distribute the minimum wage for different sectors such that it is not a common figure,” Dr Lyomoki said.
He added, “His (President Museveni) worry has always been that when you raise the wages too high, it would increase the cost of production hence chasing away the investors. We however have told him that with globalization, there is perfect competition in all sectors of production that means that good wages will attract motivated workers for efficiency and production of good quality commodities that have the potential to compete on the global market.”
Officials that attended the Wednesday meeting at State House indicated that Mr Museveni asked for a follow up meeting in June to see the progress of the various select committees to progress the conversation of minimum wage.
The Minimum Wage Bill in Uganda, passed by Parliament in 2015, was shelved after President Museveni declined to sign it. The current minimum wage in Uganda is UGX 130,000 per month. Despite the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development’s statement that the current law is sufficient, there’s ongoing debate about its effectiveness and whether a new minimum wage bill is needed.
Mr Douglas Opio the Executive Director of the Federation of Uganda Employees (FUE) told this publication that the future is now bright after the meeting.
“Our fight has been long but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. We agreed that a tripartite Minimum Wage Advisory Board will be reconstituted to support the establishment of minimum wage. The proposal has been accepted by the President, the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development will spearhead the process,” Opio said yesterday in an interview for this story.
Mr Stephen Ouma Bwire, General Secretary Uganda Journalists Union, and Representative of the Private Sector on National Organistion for Trade Union (UNOTU) Executive Board said that the Gender, Labour and Social Development Ministry has not tasked employers in enforcement of existing Labour Laws that protect and promote workers’ rights.
“The media world has suffered most with the absence of minimum wage because there are many media owners who work as they wish but no one talks about this,” Mr Ouma said.
In 2018, the UNOTU together with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural survey revealed that most journalists from upcountry media houses are paid Shs500 per story while others permanent workers earned about $100 which is way below the international recommendations of at least $400 per month.
While neighbors like Rwanda still a similar challenge as Uganda when it comes to the decision and updating of the minimum wage, in Kenya house allowance and the minimum wage anywhere between KShs15, 357 (about Shs520, 000) and Kshs12, 136 (about Shs410, 000).
In Tanzania, the minimum wage is anywhere between TShs100,000 (about Shs150,000) per month for lowest paid workers who are in informal sectors and casual laborers in agriculture, domestic servants, and small companies, and TShs400,000 (about Shs600,000) in other sectors like telecoms, mining, and financial institutions. The minimum wage for a domestic worker (house girl/boy) is between Tshs40, 000 (UShs60, 000) and TShs120, 000 (about Shs180, 000).
Mr Francis Kisiri the Chief Membership of the Private Sector Foundation said, “We have been encouraging the people in the private sector that even without the minimum wage, let us use the existing labour laws to ensure that workers get modest and recommended payments for their services. We are sure that when the minimum wage comes into force, it will help to address many issues that have been spanning years but the existing laws can be of help for now.”
Background of minimum wage
Documents from a survey of the 2022 Center for Policy Analysis indicate that in 1935, the British colonial government introduced minimum wage boards to determine the minimum wage for unskilled employees. And in 1947, it extended the appointment of wage boards to different regions in Uganda. In 1950, these efforts culminated into the concrete implementation of the first Minimum Wages Order that set the minimum wage at 33 shillings and the enactment of the Minimum Wages Advisory Boards and Wages Councils Act in 1957.
