Tea estate workers earn Shs1,000 a day
Some of the workers at Damji Tea Plantation in Mukono District. Although the workers earn peanuts, they are afraid of seeking legal redress because they are limited by a lack of employment contracts and identity cards. PHOTO BY MARTIN SSEBUYIRA
Kampala- The only essential item Shs1,000 can buy any Ugandan in their home is a packet of salt. But with items such as sugar, soap and clothing, among others having become necessities over time, how many problems would anyone solve with only Shs1,000 as their daily income?
While someone is expected to pocket Shs51 million per month [about Shs1.5m daily] at the National Oil Company, for workers at Damji Tea Plantations, all they can look up to is less than one dollar.
Deserted, with old buildings and defunct vehicles, the sight of old watchmen rushing to open the gate, is the only sign that Damji Tea Plantations, which is under the Gegede Tea Estate, could be operational.
Located about six miles from Mukono Town, Gegede Tea Estate employs about 25 elderly Ugandans.
While politicians play ping-pong on the issue of fixing a minimum wage for the country’s labour force, workers at the estate have already tasted the wrath of a no wage policy.
Although they seem to be dedicating their all to their jobs, these workers have a heap of complaints, ranging from too much work to poor pay.
For the district labour officer, Mr Henry Ssabaganzi, there are no better words he could choose to describe the farm, labelling it “exploitative”.
According to him, the status of the estate was brought to the attention of the district authorities but it was not clear why his office has not acted.
A 74-year-old Cerapan Okello narrates his experience with not so fond experiences.
“I started working here in 1974 as a watchman and my wage has gradually increased to Shs1,000 per day,” he says, adding that the money can never be sufficient for his wife and six children but he has no option, but hope that God will one day speak to his employers to increase the pay.
Mr Andrew Bateyeka, 64, comes almost to tears as he narrates his experience at the farm. He has cried out to his employers to increase his pay for years, but all in vain.
“We work without sick leave, no days off. We feel enslaved in our own country,” Mr Bateyeka says.
Mr James Gyamera-Gyene Lutalo, 64, says his life has been incapacitated: “We work because we have nothing else to do. We need the jobs and our employers can easily beat us in court if we sued, because we have no employment letters, contracts or identity cards.”
Ms Becky Achen, 45, says the workers have already tried to take the matter to the Mukono Labour office.
However, the farm’s estate manager, Mr Frank Aburugire, says payment is a company policy that the workers know about and they enrolled knowing the amount of money that they would be given.
“Some are given Shs2,500 while others earn Shs2,000. The matter can best be explained better by my superior bosses, who are out of the country,” Mr Aburugire says.
He adds that the farm halted full operations and only keeps an eye on the farm and sprays the tea, and leaves the after-harvesting work to Uganda tea cooperation.
“It is only spraying and harvesting that our old community people are able to do and we do not give them these jobs to exploit them,” he adds.
Mr Ssabanganzi notes that one of the reasons for the state of affairs at Damji Tea Plantations is that the country has no minimum wage.
With the debate of government to fix a minimum wage dragging, more people are crying foul as employers take advantage of absence of a minimum wage to give their employees wages only convenient for them.
Recently, Worker’s MP Arinaitwe Rwakajara tabled a Private Members Bill, demanding that the minimum wage be fixed. However, during this year’s Labour Day celebrations, President Museveni said the minimum wage would scare away investors.
Mr Ssabanganzi has cried out to the Uganda Horticultural, Industrial, Service Providers and Allied Workers Union to organise the workers so that their plight can be addressed.
The secretary general of the union, Mr Stephen Barasa, says they will start by taking the employer to court because “the kind of exploitation at the estate cannot be stomached”.
In 2010, Uganda passed the National Employment Policy, which would guarantee the rights of workers and set a minimum wage.
There was hope that a new minimum wage would be set the following year, something that has failed to materialise to date.
THE WAGE BILL
Fighting for workers. Early this year, MPs Stephen Arinaitwe Rwakajara, Paul Mwiru, and James Mbahimba drafted a Members Private Bill 2013 to put in place minimum wages for workers. The MPs said the Bill would emphasise wages for all workers set by a representative board of minimum wages, and considering Uganda has many foreign investors, there must be a law that regulates them. The Bill was, however, rubbished by President Museveni, who argued that it would intimidate investors.
