Uganda

In Uganda, workers in the informal sector faced enormous challenges in organising, due to the instability of enterprises in this sector and the small number of workers usually employed by each enterprise, as well as the casual nature of the work. Approximately 87 per cent of the working population in Africa is engaged in the informal economy, according to the latest ILO data. Globally, 6 in 10 workers, some 2 billion people, work in the informal economy.

On 23 May 2022, the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) issued a notification to the government expressing the intention to resume industrial action if the government insisted on implementing “discriminatory salary enhancements” instead of honouring commitments made in the 2018 collective bargaining agreement. UNATU recalled that, during the signing of the collective agreement, it was also agreed that negotiations for 2020/2021 and 2022/2023 would remove disparities in scales.

The industrial action followed due process and UNATU had suspended the industrial action to allow the government to comply with the provisions of the collective agreement.

In response, the government persisted in its refusal to implement the provisions of the collective agreement and instead tried to intimidate striking teachers with summary dismissals. On 20 July, the Permanent Secretary of the Public Service issued an order to all government teachers to report to work by 24 June and called upon Chief Administrative Officers and Town Clerks to submit names of teachers on industrial action by 30 June for deletion from the payroll.