Workers want industrial court decentralized

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Organization of Trade Union (NOTU), the umbrella body for workers in Uganda is demanding for the decentralization of the Industrial court, noting that its concentration at the center is a huge challenge to the workers well being.

The Industrial court was revived in 2014 as worker’s unions in Uganda were demanding for justice and lamenting the delays in hearing cases related to the violation of workers’ rights.

Since the inception of the court, it has faced several challenges around competent manpower to represent workers in court and judges to expedite the case backlog among others.

However, also the court has managed to conclude a number of cases despite the many pending cases. According to the chairman general NOTU, Usher Wilson Owere, the industrial court needs to be strengthened with more judges in order to be regionalized for easy access by the workers.

Owere explains that currently, workers from up country find it hard to access the court as its only centered in Kampala and according to Owere ,this can easily translate into injustice as many may fail to file their cases or follow up.

He indicates that workers moving from up country coming to Kampala may be challenged as they may even fail to come due to lack of money as some cases usually require to follow up and this all means spending.

Mainly, the industrial court deals with cases where workers are denied their rights that are stipulated under the labour laws of Uganda that include contract abuse, occupational safety and health, right to compensation, unfair termination, under payment, right to leave, freedom from non-discrimination at work place among others.

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