As Uganda observed International Labour Day on Monday, the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) urged the government to revive and pass the Minimum Wage Bill to prevent exploitation of workers.
The Minimum Wage Bill 2015, passed by the 10th Parliament in 2019, aimed to establish a mechanism for determining the minimum wage and combatting employee exploitation. The bill had proposed a minimum wage of Shs136,000 for Uganda.
However, President Museveni refused to sign the bill, arguing that the Minimum Wages Advisory Boards and Wages Council Act already addressed the issues the bill aimed to resolve.
Asuman Odaka, the Secretary-General of NEED, spoke to the media at the party's headquarters in Rubaga and highlighted that many Ugandan employees face exploitation, working for low wages and enduring terrible working conditions in both the formal and informal sectors.
Odaka called for the government to revive the Minimum Wage Bill, emphasizing the urgency of the situation for Ugandan employees who lack representation due to compromised labor unions under the ruling government.
