The Minimum Wage: Voices of Vulnerable and Marginalized workers
- 26 August 2014 -
- Written by Laspnet
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His Excellency the President of Uganda, while speaking at this year’s Labour Day celebrations in Ntungamo district expressed readiness to discuss the need for a minimum wage based on research.A minimum wage is the lowest hourly daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. The minimum wage is intended to enable the work afford the basic necessities of life such as shelter, food and health care.
It is intended to ensure that the least paid workers who are also the most vulnerable and marginalized are in position to afford a decent life.
The right to a decent life is enshrined in both international and national laws. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirms that, “everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and protection against unemployment”. It further states that, “everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work”.
Despite these provisions, Uganda’s Current minimum wage of Shs.6000/ is over 30 years old having been set in 1984. This has since not been revised.
In 2009, Platform for Labour Action petitioned the constitutional court for a declaration that the current minimum wage is a violation to the right to a livelihood. The petition was however dismissed on the ground that there was no aggrieved person since no evidence was adduced to prove that there were any people earning Shs.6000/- per month.
The NRM Manifesto stipulates that the NRM takes cognizance of the need and demands for a minimum wage. It however seeks to make Uganda more attractive to investors so that more jobs can be created. To this effect there is a mismatch between the political agenda and the national policies.
The position taken is not in line with the National Development Plan 209/2010-2014/2015 as well as Vision 2040, and the Social Development Strategic Investment Plan in which setting a minimum wage is identified as a critical step to increasing access to gainful employment which in turn contributes to reduction in poverty.
In one of the instances, workers at a teas estate in Mukono complained that they were earning Shs.1000/- per day which is less than a dollar and well below the poverty line. This clearly exhibits the direct relation between absence of a minimum wage and the high poverty levels.
Why the Need for a minimum wage
- To reduce poverty levels. A decent minimum wage would act as basic standard to ensure that workers can afford the necessities of life such as food and shelter
- To increase labor productivity. It can increase productivity in tow major ways: more investment by employers in workers’ skills and capacity, to make them worth the new, higher wages and motivation of works with more pay; they concentrate on the job as a result of a sufficient source of income which meets one’s needs.
- To reduce corruption
- To further secure women’s rights. Setting a minimum wage would help address the income inequality gap between men and women and enable women earn more so as to sustain their families
In September 2013, PLA conducted a study on the need for minimum wage in which voices of a cross section of vulnerable and marginalized workers both in the formal and informal sector were collected. The study was conducted in seven districts of Kampala, Mukono, Iganga, Lira, Amolator, Dokolo and Kaliro. 100% of the respondents supported the need for a minimum wage and called upon government to revise the current minimum wage to enable them improve their livelihood and access the basic necessities of life.
Based on the study, the civil society organization through PLA call for the following action:
- Members of parliament to support and prioritize the debate on the Minimum Wages Bill, 2012
- Government to prioritize the revision of the bill
- Appoint a new minimum wages advisory board in accordance with the prevailing legislation, the Minimum Wages Advisory Boards and Councils Act Cap 221; to undertake research on the impact of minimum wages on employment and productivity and wage trends in key sectors as stipulated in the Employment Policy in order to improve labour administration and labour standards.
- To take cognizance that the prevailing law on the minimum wage is outdated and there is a need to review the same in order to harmonize the views of workers, employers and stakeholders on the minimum wage. This can be done through supporting the tabling of the Minimum wages bill.
