Waste Pickers Alliance Uganda

Samuel Ojuku (consultant)

P.o box 3444Kampala

Email:,

Table of Contents

Page

  1. Introduction4
  1. Conditions and Effects of the work 4
  1. Nature and Incidence5
  1. Profile of Waste Pickers, characteristic of work and Remuneration5
  1. Discrimination and its effects5
  1. Dealing with complaints6
  1. Legal protection, National Legislation and international Conventions6
  1. International Human Rights Instruments7
  1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
  2. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
  3. The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
  1. Conclusion8

Acronyms

AIDSAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

CEDAWConvention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

HIVHuman Immunodeficiency Virus

ICCPRInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

ICESCRInternational covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

ILOInternational Labour Organization

UDHRUniversal Declaration of Human Rights

WPAUWaste Pickers’ Alliance Uganda

  1. Introduction

This text is based on findings as a result of mobilizing membership, Human Rights Empowerment and Support to form peer groups among garbage collectors. The contents have been documented by The Waste Pickers Alliance for the purpose of stimulating the Parliament about miseries encountered by these minority workers.The Waste Pickers Alliance was founded in 2004 todevelop policies that shall improve the working conditions of garbage collectors and developing substantial strategies to fight for garbage collectors rights and advocate for a rectification of garbage pickers labor conditions. The organization aims to expose the dangerous conditions under which the waste pickers work during the execution of their work with the big companies. The WPAU works to promote the welfare of garbage collectors. The organization advocates for better working conditions, better pay, and to raise human rights violations among these minority workers. The organization is led by a management committee.

  1. Conditions and Effects of the work

During execution of work it was unveiled that Waste pickers in Uganda continue to work under repressive conditions. Some of the miseries encountered are;

  • They work without protective gear, touching into hazardous wastes.
  • Payments are extremely exploitative and yet work is bulky
  • Women are forced to work at night against their will
  • Women collectors who become pregnant are chased away from the job
  • Long working hours, no breaks and carrying heavy loads

Garbage collectors are affected by various hazards, including physical injuries of falling ill at work. women are especially at risk because of working longer hours without rest and work under a lot of pressure to remove garbage or waste in time or as scheduled by the company employing her. During work at night,they are subjected to physical and sexual abuse. They face sexual harassment and abuse by hooligans moving at night leading to HIV transmission.Back at their homes, they are the first to rise up in the morning and last to go to bed leaving them with no time to relax. Worse of all they lack sanitary amenities due to their meager pay. This leads to using unhealthy, dirty and badly stored rags as sanitary pads which further infect the user with deadly sexually transmitted diseases.

Other Risks have included exposure to toxic chemicals, climatic exposure, clinical infections and cuts from sharpened items.Waste pickers suffer the rain and sun while in field and because they always go without food or appropriate food at work, they develop anemia and also because they buy the cheapest available uncooked water which is sourced from drains flanking toilet drainages, they suffer from fatal water borne diseases. Other problems identified were chest pains and respiratory diseases due to inhaling dust and other waste that contain dust.

  1. Nature and Incidence

There is a high prevalence of waste pickers’ human rights violations in Uganda. This is most prevalent in the major cities. The violations are invisible and go unnoticed as even the public or those that could help sometimes notice the garbage pickers as mad or insane, this is attributed to their appearance and use of bare hands when touching in bad water logged waste or toilet wastes.Even though companies are required to observe local laws and internationalregulations, they do not adhere to these and to fundamental standards, for example with regard to remuneration, working hours and wages.They have no any workers benefits and programmes such as HIV/AIDSProgrammes for employees, an active policy geared to the recruitment of such minority groups, any additionalfacilities for employees, including health care, housing, and similar issues.

  1. Profile of Waste Pickers, characteristic of work and Remuneration

89% of garbage collectors are male between ages 17 – 56. Majority of waste pickers have not studied up to primary six. The daily work schedules involve gathering heaps of wastes from clients to collection centers, lifting heavy sacks of garbage onto trucks, and using spades to dig up littered or dumped waste in places other than the dump site. The garbage collectors experience problems ranging from low pay, unstipulated working hours, heavy work loads not commensurate with their age, inadequate rest, physical, sexual and psychological abuse. And worst of all they have no bargaining powers to improve their terms and conditions of work. Garbage collectors’ job is a poor remunerated job in Uganda with no fixed wages and no tenure of employment. Termination of service is often abrupt and unilateral.

  1. Discrimination and its effects

In Uganda Garbage collectors are always presumed to be insane. Even at small local hotels they are required to eat separately and restricted socially. Employers and clients often treat them harshly with verbal abuses. Garbage collectors are taken as people of the lowest class and who are supposed to eat from garbage. Due to this situation, some of the waste pickers take on deviant behavior and can be a problem to the community. Psychological symptoms of temper out bursts and apathy have been identified in some of the waste pickers.

  1. Dealing with complaints

Waste pickers have lacked information on their rights, which has always deterred them from lodging what they feel as abuse relating to their work. Even if they were to report to formal institutions like the police, they still experience the problem of inferiority. Furthermore they think that their employers would bribe the police and the case would turn against them leading to imprisonment. Sure, the police institution does not adequately address such minority workers problems positively. Local leaders who are supposed to mediate and institute courts at this level lack adequate information on humanrights and their values.The national legislation still linger poorly or may not be observed or implemented. Complying with local laws is not enough if the standards set in those laws are lower than the fundamental ILO standards and those contained in the conventions guidelines. Although, strictly speaking, thefundamental ILO standards only apply to States and are not directly applicable to companies, The Waste Pickers Alliance takes the view that companies should nevertheless keep to them. One reason for doing so is because ILO conventions aredrawn up by employers, employees and government bodies jointly. We consider it important for companies toendorse the ILO standards, for example by making reference to ILO standards in their businessprinciples.We also expectcompanies to conduct their operations in a sociallyresponsible manner. The government of Uganda needs to address the situation by tackling the underlying causes through governmental policies and enforcement of these policies.

  1. Legal protection, National Legislation and international Conventions

The waste pickers have lacked legal protection to address remuneration, working hours, sexual abuse and working conditions. First of all these poor people cannot take on a lawyer and do not know about human rights guidelines, standards and conventions that have been ratified by the Uganda government. The adoption and supervision of international treaties, conventions and recommendations is one of the most important tools available to the ILO for improving the legislation and practice of member states in the fight against violation of minority workers rights. Although Uganda has ratified the conventions, they have not yet been fully integrated into national and local legislation. The Supreme law (the constitution of the Republic of Uganda) prohibits the holding in slavery or servitude of any person in Uganda including children. Theconstitution further mandatesparliament to enact laws to provide for the right to work under satisfactory, safe, and healthy conditions; to ensure payment for equal work without discrimination and to ensure that every worker is accorded rest and reasonable working hours and periods of holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays. Every person in Uganda has a right to carry on lawful occupation, trade and business (Article 40; 1 & 2). Furthermore, every worker in Uganda has a right to form or join a trade union of his or her choice for the promotion and protection of his or her economic and social interests; a right to collective bargaining and representation; and to withdraw his or her laboraccording to the law. The employer of every woman worker is to accord the worker protection during pregnancy and after birth in accordance with the law. (Article 40; 3&4).

There are various labour laws including the worker’s compensation Act 2001, the Trade Union Decree No. 7 of 2006, the employment decree No.6 of 2006and the Trade Dispute(Arbitration & Settlement) Act No. 8 of 2006, which however have no specific provisions relating to Minority workers. These laws relate to the formal and not the informal sector. In addition, these laws provide intricate legal processes that garbage collectors would not easily be familiar with. Consequently, much as there exists a broad legal framework to protect workers generally, there are no specific laws to protect waste pickers in the informal sector.

  1. International Human Rights Instruments
  1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948

Article 23 (1) of the UDHR provides for the right for everyone to work, to free choice of employment, to just andfavorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. It further grants everyone the right to equal pay for equal work without any discrimination. It also provides that everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration, ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. In addition is the right for everyone to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. The UDHR also provides for the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

  1. The International Covenant on Economic, social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The ICESCR elaborates the right to just and favorable conditions of work. The right includes remunerating all workers with a minimum and fair wage and equal remuneration of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work. Workers are also given the right to enjoy safe and healthy working conditions, the right to rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay as well as remuneration for public holidays.The right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests, is provided for under both the ICESCR and the ICCPR. The ICESCR further states that trade Unions are supposed to function freely without limitations, except those prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public order or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. The right to strike is also provided so long as it is exercised in conformity with the laws of the particular country.

  1. The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

CEDAW provides a framework that upholds the rights of women. CEDAW defines discrimination against women in broad terms and captures any discrimination against women in the economic and other fields among others. The convention makes it a duty of state parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular the right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings, the right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment. CEDAW also provides for the right to paid leave, and more significantly the right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions, including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.

  1. Conclusion

We hereby conclude and appeal to the Parliament of Uganda to engage the law to ensure;

  • Safety and security of all garbage collectors in the workplace
  • Freedom of association and the effectiverecognition of the right to collectivebargaining by minority workers
  • Compliance with national laws onworking hours
  • Appropriate remuneration forWaste Pickers, in line with salariespracticed in the country
  • The elimination of all discriminatorypractices within minority workers
  • Effective abolition of child labour
  • The right of all personnel to join their respective unions
  • That members of the Waste Pickers Alliance are not subject to discrimination and abuse in the companies they work with
  • Employment conditions meet the minimum requirements of national legislation
  • The Right to organize
  • Fair compensation
  • Reasonable working hours
  • A safe and hygienic work environment for garbage collectors

For God and Our Country

The document has been produced by

The Waste Pickers Alliance UGANDA

c/o Po Box 24146 Kampala

email:

With Financial Support From

The Norwegian Human Rights Fund

Po Box 6890 St. Olavs plass, N-01 30 OSLO, NORWAY

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Breaking Waste Pickers’ Silence – Violation of Participants Rights