Have workers unions outlived usefulness?

What you need to know:

Barking dogs? Workers unions are the go-between between the employee and the employer. However, many employers hold the view that the unions have failed to achieve the set goals.

Uganda boasts of about 22 workers’ unions. But compared to countries like South Africa, their bargaining power vis-à-vis government positions on labour and employment in general, is not as strong as it should be.
In a country with no minimum wage and where the labour laws are not binding on employers, especially in the private sector, one cannot help but wonder whether the unions in place are relevant.
But Aisha Nambuya, secretary of the Uganda Hotels, Food, Tourism and Allied Workers Union branch based at LAICO Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, says unions are necessary, otherwise employers would have had the leeway to treat employees as they like. “The first point of call is the worker’s salary. As unions, we bargain with the employer for the salary of workers at every level on the pay scale,” she told Jobs and Career.
Robinah Ssenabulya, the executive director of the Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE), agrees.
“Workers unions are still useful depending on how they execute their role of representing employees. It is true that the majority of workers are in a poor position when they come to the bargaining table, because of the demand and supply inequalities in the labour market today.”

Strengths
A workers’ union signs a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the employer that covers staff welfare, payments, sick leave and retirement of the member staff.
Because of CBAs, unions make an economy stronger in that they strive to raise the wages of their members. Raised wages have a boomerang effect on a country’s economy because they give employees more purchasing power.
Higher purchasing power will, in turn, boost the informal sector, for example, restaurants and saloons, by making possible for them to hire more workers. “Without workers unions disparities in wages and inequality can fracture work relations in the workplace,” says Nambuya.

Benefit to members
Private corporations focus on increasing the profit margin at the expense of their employees. Employers try to avoid responsibility when it comes to providing health care, job safety, and reasonable working hours to their employees.
To remain relevant in the market place, companies are downsizing and hiring part-time workers. In this kind of situation, a worker’s income is insecure because part-time workers make it possible for a company to performance-based pay.

“Unionised workers are guaranteed job security,” adds Nambuya. “An employer will not wake up one morning and sack them. If it is a disciplinary case, we sit down with the employer and come to terms. In any case, if a company is downsizing, the union comes in to negotiate terminal benefits for affected members.”
Membership to workers unions is optional, with a small number of employees opting not to join. However, they are not entirely left out. When unions bargain for higher salaries for their members, non-members benefit because it is impossible for the employer to pay them a wage that is lower than the prevailing rate.

Challenges
By their nature, workers unions create an “us vs them” culture. This has an adverse effect on teamwork between the bosses and the workers. On the one hand are union members; on the other are employers. On an island on their own, are the non-union workers.
“Employers think we are ruining their workers,” Nambuya admits. “They believe that if it were not for the unions, their work would run smoothly.”
“Sometimes workers unions abuse their roles by using the union as a platform to promote their self-interests at the expense of the employer,” says Ssenabulya.
In a CBA, all workers should be treated equally regardless of their efforts and productivity. But not all workers are the same; some are lazy and others are innovative.
This means a company will have double work working out a separate system of performance-based pay to worthy employees, that is separate from the wage bargained in the CBA.
There are jobs that depend on the employee’s creativity, such as web designing, interior decorating and public relations. Employers value creative workers. If a CBA advocates equal pay, regardless of creativity, then this reduces individual innovation. Besides, with unions, promotions are based on seniority rather than on skill and knowledge.
In industrial jobs that do not require much innovation and creativity, but where the jobs are monotonous, workers unions are necessary. For other jobs, however, an employee’s bargaining power will depend largely on what they are bringing to the table in form of skills and knowledge.

Trade Unions Affiliated to NOTU

•Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union.
•Uganda Beverages, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Union.
• Uganda Building, Construction, Civil Engineering, Cement and Allied Workers’ Union.
• Uganda Government and Allied Workers’ Union
• National Union of Clerical, Commercial and Professional and Technical Employees’ Union.
• National Union of Educational Institutions.
• Uganda Mines, Metal and Allied Workers’ Union.
• National Union of Plantation and Agricultural Workers.
• Uganda Communication Employees’ Union.
• Uganda Public Employees Union
• Uganda Electricity and Allied Workers’ Union.
• Uganda Railways Workers Union
• Uganda Hospitality Leisure and Allied Workers Union.
• National Union of Theatrical, Entertainment, Art, Culture Craft and Allied Workers
• Uganda Media Union
• Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union
• Uganda Fisheries and Allied Workers’ Union.
• Uganda Horticultural and Allied Workers’ Union.
• Uganda National Teachers’ Union
• National Union of Co-operative Movement and Allied Workers’ Union
• Uganda Mine, Metal, Oil, Gas and Allied Workers’ Union
• Uganda Horticulture industrial, Service Providers and Allied Worker’s Union
• National Union of Theatrical, Domestic and General Workers