Many workers ‘unaware of own rights’

Legal and Human Rights Centre executive director Anna Henga (right) cuts the ribbon to launch the Human Rights and Business Report of 2017 in Dar es Salaam on Thursday. Others from left are Finance and Administration director Silvian Sariko, Human Rights Monitoring and Accountability director Felista Mauya and LHRC’s Board member Emeliana Mboya. PHOTO | ERICKY BONIPHACE

What you need to know:

  • The Human Rights and Business Report for 2017 titled “Industrialisation Drive and Workers’ Rights in Tanzania” conducted by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) shows that only 23 per cent of respondents were aware of labour laws and related rights and duties.

Dar es Salaam. Awareness of labour-related laws, rights and duties is still low among workers, a new report reveals.

The Human Rights and Business Report for 2017 titled “Industrialisation Drive and Workers’ Rights in Tanzania” conducted by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) shows that only 23 per cent of respondents were aware of labour laws and related rights and duties.

The report--launched in Dar es Salaam yesterday--disclosed that this state of affairs was caused by the failure of a number of employers to comply with labour law requirement of displaying a statement of rights of employees at a visible place within the workplace.

Presenting the report, LHRC’s Human Rights and Business assistant programme officer Tito Magoti said that less than 50 per cent of firms involved in the study were found to display such statement related to employees’ rights, laws and duties within the workplace.

It also discovered that human rights were violated as a result of businesses not complying with labour laws and regulations, which include the right to work, right to freedom of association, right to health and right to adequate standards of living.

To address the matter, the Dar es Salaam-based legal organisation urged the government to ensure there is effective enforcement of labour laws and related regulations.

“The government needs to ensure labour rights are included in the new Constitution should the constitution making process continue,” he said.

The report findings also indicated that disputes relating to land acquisition and compensation were still common in the country.

At the same time, the study looked into how communities got affected when companies acquired land for investment in their areas.

The study shows that most of the time community members were sidelined in land acquisition, hence denying them knowledge of what they are entitled to in the deals.

Hence, the government has been urged to address this anomaly.

Briefing reporters during the launch of the report, LHRC executive director Anna Henga explained that her office had reached over 1,000 respondents and 55 public and private firms during the study.

The report also says that freedom of association for workers continues to be restricted as employers see trade unions as a nuisance, hence workers fear engaging in trade unions. The study says some employees complained about being threatened with termination if they dared question status of their rights at the workplaces.

According to the comprehensive study, Tanzania still loses a huge chunck of revenues due to tax incentives and similar exemptions.

In recommendations, LHRC urged the government to strengthen key regulatory authorities in the business sector, especially their institutional capacity to enable them to effectively monitor businesses regularly to ensure their compliance with the laws and regulations.