Collective bargaining agreement launched

The National Organisation of Trade Unions (Notu) in conjunction with International Labour Organisation (ILO) has launched the standard Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for all labour unions in the country. The aim of the CBA is to negotiate better working conditions for the people living with HIV/Aids and those with disabilities in order to improve productivity and also bring about industrial harmony.
The CBA also indicates the standard working hours per day (eight hours per day), leave and death benefits, public holidays, freedom and right to associate, occupational safety hazards, amongst others.
“The HIV/Aids CBA is the minimum standard which every union must have,” Mr Usher Wilson Owere, the Notu chairman general said during the launch of CBA in Kampala this week.
“It will strengthen employment relationships and also improve working conditions like paying attention to workers with HIV/Aids.”
Mr Owere also stated the need for the Industrial Court to start operating in order for the industrialists to ‘have a place where they can solve issues among them, their workers and customers.’
According to Mr David Mawejje, the coordinator of ILO in Uganda, some of the major unions that the CBA is addressed to will include the beverages, mines, construction, fisheries and plantation.
“There are many workers in these sections living with HIV,” Mr Mawejje said, adding that these people need to be treated well in order to perform well.
The director of labour, Mr Kamya Mugalu, welcomed the action taken by Notu, saying this was the way to go for the workers fraternity in moving forward.
“The CBA is timely. If people are not empowered, employers will end up challenging the workers by not giving them better working conditions even when they are living with HIV.”

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