It is time to refocus our labour force

Workers gather at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, for Labour Day celebrations on May 1, 2019. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The government, trade unions and employers have a big role in ensuring workers earn better wages.
  • The industry will benefit from better-skilled staff, reducing skill gaps and mismatches, hence resulting in increased employment.

Employees are a critical factor of production and key catalyst to the growth of national economies and private enterprise, hence the importance of addressing their concerns and needs.

To safeguard their welfare, it is critical to consider factors such as a safe working environment, good working conditions, healthcare, favourable wages, and their general rights as stipulated in countries’ labour laws and international conventions on workers’ rights.

In Kenya, the government and workers’ unions have attempted to address these concerns over the decades, but a lot of work still need to be done.

Today is Labour Day, also known as the International Workers’ Day. It is celebrated every May 1. Over the years, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu), together with the Ministry of Labour, have presided over the commemorations with the sole obligation of ensuring workers’ needs are met by both the government and the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE).

Workers, especially those in the lower ranks, troop to the venues or follow the proceedings on radio, television or the internet, eager to listen to the official address, hoping for an increment on the minimum wage and improvement of the terms of employment.

MINIMUM WAGE

Last year’s Labour Day celebrations were received with mixed reactions. The ministry underscored the importance of focusing on affordable housing for workers as proposed in the president’s ‘Big Four Agenda’.

It was to enacting a housing levy of 1.5 per cent of the salary. And Cotu advocated a 15 per cent raise.

These propositions were, however, opposed by FKE on the basis of the resultant high wage bill and increased cost of doing business.

A 2019 study by the Aga Khan University East African Institute shows 74 per cent of entry-level staff in the formal sector earn less than Sh50,000 a month and 81 per cent in the informal sector under Sh25,000.

Surprisingly, more than half of the entry-level staff had post-secondary education and technical training. With the rising inflation rate, the minimum monthly wage of Sh13,572 can hardly help them to meet the high cost of living.

This raises concerns on the return on investment for the local skilled workforce, considering the high cost of tertiary education.

In effect, most employees cannot finance their basic needs from the meagre wages, resulting in low morale, mental health issues and, sometimes, corruption and outright crime in a bid to cope in the prevailing financial conditions.

TRAINING

The government, trade unions and employers have a big role in ensuring workers earn better wages and their safety and general well-being is safeguarded.

Collaboration among the actors is critical for effective dialogue on boosting the productivity of the country’s workforce and improving their working standards.

Employers need to reskill and retool people as they work to ensure their organisations’ needs are met, as well as guide training institutions on the skills required at the workplace.

Inasmuch as this is critical, the survey points out that only two per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, of informal and formal sector employers reported any involvement with TVET and other training institutions on training, curriculum development or internship.

Employers cited barriers to on-the-job training as prohibitive costs, fear of trained staff being poached by competitors and lack of internal capacity to train.

Trade unions need to encourage good relations between employers and workers.

ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

They are responsible for setting up committees to provide training, education and other facilities for the advancement of workers.

The industry will benefit from better-skilled staff, reducing skill gaps and mismatches, hence resulting in increased employment.

Lastly, trade unions need to facilitate the linking of the workforce to the industry through partnerships and networks with the public and private sector.

And as the primary duty bearer, the government must create an enabling environment for investors and employers to ensure reasonable pay for workers to meet their needs.

Kenyan workers ought to be thankful to the government for the recent Covid-19 pandemic-driven measures that have seen them get tax relief, cushioning them for a while.

But there is a need for the government, trade unions, employers and academia to engage in a serious dialogue on a sustainable plan to entrench worker’s rights at the centre of the production process and reward them as is appropriate without having to wait for them to be granted minimum wage increments on Labour Day.

Ms Mbuvi is a research associate at the East Africa Institute, The Aga Khan University. [email protected].