As Uganda celebrated International World Labour Day Sembabule, Ministers called believed that there was a lot of government can d o to improve the lives of the country's workforce. The National Organization of Trade Unions headed by Usher Wilson Owere said they disagreed with the government's policy of selective salary enhancements for public servants. “What we want is a collective bargaining agreement for all workers because you cannot say this one is scientific, we are not agreeing with selective. And yesterday we had a meeting with the Minister of Public Service, we agreed on a number of things that we must follow.” Said, Usher Wilson Owere – NOTU.
Owere said there should be a robust salary increment across the board for all workers. “For us, we have put a projection for the next five years where we want to see the lowest worker who is now getting 270,000 to be at a certain level of not less than 1 million and the gap; we narrow that gap between 17 million and 270,000 and that’s what we want.” Said, Usher Wilson Owere – NOTU. Speaking at lawmakers at parliament, Mathias Mpuuga the Masaka Municipality MP noted that there was still a lot of government can do to improve labor relations in the country. The lawmaker also expressed his opposition to the export of Ugandan labor. “There is something all of us are trying to work on towards reversing amidst a lot of resistance from those who are benefiting from this enslavement of Ugandans. These are the issues that we would rather effect upon on this Labor Day.” Said, Mathias Mpuuga – Masaka Municipality MP.
Other lawmakers noted that the issue of the minimum wage should finally be given the long overdue attention it deserves. “We need a law in place, so we need a Bill from the Ministry that would bring upon minimum wage.” Said, Juliet Kyinyamatama – Rakai Woman MP. One of the things most of the stakeholders agreed with was that a lot still needed to be done to improve the welfare of Uganda's working population. “Economy they say it is growing, they say it has grown by 50% the GDP. But you know when you look this GDP it may be contributed by a few individuals.” Said, Francis Mukula – Agule Country MP.
