Local govt workers reject govt salary proposals

The leaders of the Uganda Local Government Workers Union (ULGWU) have rejected the written recommendations from Public Service Minister Wilson Muruli Mukasa following last week’s meeting that was intended to convince  workers to call off an impending industrial action.

The general secretary of ULGWU, Mr Hassan Lwabayai, told Monitor yesterday that the most important recommendation of enhancing local government workers’ pay in the 2023/2024 Financial Year that was agreed upon during their discussions with the minister, did not feature in the letter, and therefore, they would not honour it.

“During the meeting that we held with minister Muruli on Wednesday, we agreed with him that enhancement  of local government workers be reflected in the Budget Call Circular that is expected to be released on September 15 of this year. We requested the minister to put this commitment in writing. Unfortunately, this critical matter was left out,”  Mr Lwabayi said.

“They have changed the content of the recommendations and therefore, we are going to convene a meeting on Tuesday (tomorrow) to analyse and respond to the content in the recommendations and decide on the  action to take,” he added.

In his June 6 letter to the union’s general secretary, Mr Muruli said government would enhance the pay of all its workers but in a phased manner.

“Following the meeting on July 6, of your 90 days’ statutory notice to withdraw labour, with effect from July 7 and to enable you call off the industrial action, I advise the Union that government is committed to enhancing the pay of all its workers in a phased manner according to the approved salary pay plan and targets depending on availability of resources,” Mr Muruli said.
“I, therefore, request you that you call off the intended industrial action,” he added.

The content of the letter has prompted local government leaders to call for a crisis meeting slated for tomorrow where they will decide whether to continue with the strike or follow the minister’s directive of calling off the industrial action.

ULGWU issued an industrial action  notice to government no on April 7 in fulfilment of  a 90-day window under labour laws to increase the  pay for  it’s members or else, lay down their tools. 

The Union demanded that the local government worker, who is at the lowest level, should at least earn Shs1.7 m while the chief administrative officers should part with a monthly salary of Shs15m. 

This, they said, was in line with the Collective Bargaining Agreement that was signed in 2018.