The leadership of workers in Uganda has approved a move to have a strategic plan that will focus on ensuring that their demands are felt and respected by government.
The worker’s leadership attending a workshop at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, resolved that the workers fraternity must come up with a clear strategy to fight for their space. The workers also intensified the resolve to strengthen trade unions to fight for their rights.
Speaking during the event, workers MP Hon. Arinaitwe Rwakajara reiterated the need for a vibrant trade union movement, to counteract the restrictions and political pressure in the fight for workers’ rights. He said workers will continue to demand for an independent ministry which he says will go a long way to address issues of workers.
Workers say the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development cannot ably address their issues owing to the broader mandate it is charged with.
The workers’ representatives also want government to produce a progress report on a number of issues including the review on labour laws, the process to strengthen social dialogue, the progress on minimum wage advisory board, and workplace inspection program across the country.
The chairman National Organization of Trade Unions in Uganda Usher Wilson Owere said workers are set to petition parliament seeking its intervention into the matter of workers demand for more representatives on NSSF board which he said have been persistently ignored.