Employment Bill 2019 is a beacon of hope for workers

I was lucky to be part of the second consultative meeting on the draft Employment (Amendment) Bill, 2019 recently attended by Civil Society Organisations, workers representatives and labour officers, members of trade unions and many other labour experts.
What struck me was how the current Employment Act 2006, is grossly deficient on a wide range of issues affecting the working community in Uganda today.

It occurred to me, for instance, that there is excessive abuse of the rights of domestic and casual workers, who are exposed to indecent treatment under very dehumanising working conditions.
This has been very blatant and outright due to lack of legislative provisions that regulate the employer-employee relationship and make express the nature and the conditions of work for domestic and casual workers.

The draft bill, therefore, seeks to define a domestic worker, casual worker and the workplace in relation to domestic and casual workers. It also provides for the prescription of model contracts for these domestic and casual workers. This will, therefore, formalise the working relationship between the domestic and casual workers and their employers.
Employers in Uganda have mastered the art of employing Ugandans, even the professional ones, as casual workers in order to exploit them and to hide from the responsibility over their employees. As a result, many have been poorly paid and have not received terminal employment benefits.

Casual workers have suffered injuries and contracted diseases from the workplace and have had no remedy from their employers, because they deny liability. Some workers have suffered permanent impairment and traumatisation.
The draft bill, however, provides for the prescription of a model contract for these casual workers and for the regulation of casual work, including empowering the minister for Labour to put in place measures for the effective promotion and protection of the human rights of all domestic and casual workers.

Among these are measures to respect and promote their freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, including forming and joining trade unions, to eliminate all forms of forced or compulsory labour, to completely abolish child labour, and to eliminate all forms of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation of domestic and casual workers. The draft bill also expressly provides for the rights of domestic and casual workers.
Also very fundamental is how the bill seeks to regulate all labour recruitment for both internal and external employment. It provides for strict regulation of the sector.

The bill expressly puts the procedures for external recruitment, which include orientation of workers on their rights and duties under their contracts, ensuring that they are qualified and that their contracts are in accordance with the law.
The recruiters must also assume full responsibility for all claims and liabilities arising in connection with the use of their licences. The bill also seeks to bar certain categories of persons from being licenced as labour recruiters given their bad history in the sector.
Recruitment agencies are also required to maintain up date all records relating to their transactions with employers and employees that they have connected.

It also seeks to regulate outsourcing of services and to protect workers against any form of sexual harassment.
The bill is a beacon of hope for all workers. And as the debate continues, I pray that at the end of the day, the worker will be protected.