East African Gazette
Kampala
Women leadership of National Union Trade Organisation (NOTU) congress, demand 15 percent of NOTU collections to be allocated to the women’s activities so that their participation is visible and improves the lives of women.
“We want 15 % of NOTU’s budget be given to women so that it can facilitate women activities rather than have their budget controlled under one apex, saying women have their projects, they would like to work to improve on the welfare of the women” said Agnes Atwooki, the Chairperson of the National Union Trade Organisation (NOTU) Women Committee
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Atwoki made the remarks during the 9th NOTU delegates convention where she excelled unopposed to serve for the second term in office held at Hotel Africana.
She said they have received reports that some employers collect money from employees but they do not remit it to the NSSF and when the workers retire they keep the money for themselves.
“In our new term office, we would like to see that workers’ money remitted and fight discrimination at work places” she noted
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The convention constituted 34 unions with 105 delegates with only 6 members not attending. This congress is normally organized every 5 years.
Annet Birungi was elected as the Secretary for women, Harriet Mugaba , the Secretary Education and Lucy Anyango Vice Chairperson. Other members elected on committee include Gloria Akech, Allen Kansiime, Aisha Kafuuko, Margaret Nakalembe and Rosemary Komugisha.
Atwoki said they were elected in 2018 but during their term of office they were affected due to the disunity of the top leadership.
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“The NOTU Constitution provided for 33 percent women representation on the executive board but during their term of office they achieved 41 percent women representation on the board. We encourage the affiliated union to include women activities” Atwoki said.
She said they conducted life skills to enable the women to have side incomes which include Liquid soap, beekeeping, livestock, handcraft and general agriculture.
Annet Birungi the Secretary said women were trained in financial literacy to enable people to learn the culture of saving, the savings you make may support you in the future. She appealed to the women to learn to elect people who will be supportive in their life.
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“You do not expect a leader who does not think of development to support you in future. If you find 5 people who lack ideas, if you join them, you will remain the same. So always look for leaders who are focused on development” she advised
She said during their office they forced the government to accept the workers to access their National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to allow them to borrow a small percentage to carry out development projects before retirement.
She alluded that today you can access your money whenever you get NSSF offices in the country, saying you do not need to travel to the headquarters in Kampala.
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We advise all the women who are about to retire to present their document so that their money can be accessed.
Employers should deduct employees’ money and end up not submitting it to NSSF and when they retire, they have nothing to take home and this should be stopped
The NOTU Secretary General Richard Bigirwa urged the women to recruit more members into their unions so as to build capacity.
Bigirwa said they are aware that women face a lot of challenges especially at their places of work. He urged them to fight for the rights of all the workers and bring it to the attention of management to address it.
“The issues related to the women have been taken care of in their planning. Uganda needs the women to have meaningful development”, he said.
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“We have established continuous educational programs for women workers specifically on general issues like the external labour, human trafficking and child labour. I urge you to equip yourselves with the labour laws and standards so that you can become responsible citizen” he noted