Millions of workers are now vulnerable to labour exploitation in Uganda. Often, these earn below the time, effort and skills they inject into their jobs. For example, an average worker in Uganda earns less than UGX 200,000 per month before taxes if eligible. Women and youth earn even less than the average worker at UGX100,000 per month, with some working beyond the recommended 8 hours per day. We must understand that labour exploitation occurs when the employer takes advantage of an employee’s vulnerability for his gain or profit. It involves paying extremely low wages or not paying at all, forcing employees to work for long hours, denying benefits and basic rights, physical abuse (e.g. beating), confiscating documents of workers, working without contracts, subjecting workers to unsafe working conditions, and using force or threats to control employees.
While labour exploitation can affect all workers irrespective of workplaces in formal and informal sectors, the construction, tourism, manufacturing, mining, and agriculture workers are even more vulnerable to exploitation due to the high level of informality in these sectors. The perpetrators often change their methods and tactics to avoid being identified or evade justice, like changing workers’ schedules to work overnight and restricting access to their premises, with long perimeter walls and deployment of security officers to ensure no entry of “unfriendly guests” that may leak information.
Labour exploitation is a criminal offence in most countries, including the United Kingdom and Switzerland. It is also illegal in Uganda as it contravenes the provisions of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (as amended). The Government has also enacted some laws that ban labour exploitation, such as the Employment Act No. 6 of 2006 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act No. 9 of 2006.
However, the existing evidence suggests that labour exploitation is highly prevalent in workplaces. For instance, the 2021 National Labour Force Survey (NLFS) conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics shows that more than half of the employed population (54 percent) are in vulnerable employment. This is characterised by low earnings and difficult working conditions that undermine workers’ fundamental rights.
Specifically, the 2021 NLFS shows that people in paid employment earn a median wage of about UGX 200,000 monthly while the 2023 FinScope survey shows that nearly 75 percent of Ugandan adults earn less than UGX 250,000 per month. This means that a person works for about UGX 10,000 daily but may spend about half of it on transport to and from the workplace and a meal for the day.
Some employers pay wages as low as UGX 5,000 per day. Most workers that can be seen in long queues at the gates of factories in the Namanve industrial area during morning and evening hours fall in this category, earning about UGX 5,000 to UGX 10,000 per day.
Unfortunately, according to the 2021 NLFS, nearly eighty percent (77 percent) of employed people are satisfied with their jobs despite such low earnings. This paradox can be attributed to the country’s high unemployment. Because of the lack of alternatives and better jobs, workers settle for low pay and feel better off than their street counterparts, who are still looking for a job.
Besides the low pay, most workers (67 percent) are employed based on an oral agreement. This makes it easy for employers to fire and hire as they wish because they are assured of readily available cheap labour. Thus, the worker is at the employer’s mercy, and any slight mistake, like late arrival, can attract penalties, including termination, pay cuts, or no payment at all.
The 2021 NLFS also shows that 35 percent of the working population is exposed to dust, fumes, or chemicals, while about 25 percent are exposed to dangerous tools. Additionally, according to the 2021 NLFS, over 70 percent of the employees do not receive any benefits such as paid annual leave, paid sick leave in case of illnesses, paid maternity leave, retirement benefits, and medical or health insurance.
Labour exploitation can result in physical and mental health problems like stress, depression, injuries, diseases and death at times. It also traps workers in poverty due to earning peanuts, but most victims suffer in silence due to a lack of awareness of their rights, fear of losing their jobs and threats from employers.
Therefore, the government, through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD), should prioritise awareness of workers’ rights at work for an empowered workforce that can say NO to labour exploitation. Employers should also appreciate the consequences of labour exploitation to ensure compliance with the legal provisions of the Employment Act of 2006 and the National Employment Policy of 2011. Such awareness creation programmes have been effective in Colombia and the Philippines as they empowered workers’ and employers’ organizations to actively participate in social dialogues and labour inspection visits and promote compliance with labour law at the workplace.
The Government should also prioritise the recruitment of labour officers in every district and jointly work with trade unions and district local governments to ensure regular workplace inspections and compliance with labour laws. In Tanzania, the labour inspectorate works closely with trade unions at workplaces, district, and regional levels, significantly reducing employee exploitation.
Additionally, the Government should introduce a toll-free line to ensure timely reporting of incidents involving violation of workers’ rights by workers or whistleblowers, like the Sauti 116 by MGLSD for reporting child abuse, neglect, exploitation, and gender-based violence. This has been effective in the United Kingdom, which operates a toll-free line for reporting cases of forced labour. The confidentiality of reporters should be highly protected, and perpetrators should be punished per the law to serve as a lesson to other employers.