EDITORIAL: TZ doomed if employers ignore workers’ plight
On Wednesday, Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) released a report showing that over 80 per cent of workers in the corporate sector don’t have formal job contracts. Which is to say, many employers are getting away with crime right under the noses of labour regulatory bodies in the country.
The report, entitled “Human Rights and Business,” reveals that workers, especially those in the informal sector are suffering-in-silence victims.
According to the report, over 90 per cent of contracts reviewed in the study fall short of human rights standards. Indeed, the researchers scrutinised 19 contracts and only 2 of them met all requirements of the Labour Relations Act of 2004.
Of the entire workforce in Tanzania, only 6.5 per cent have joined social security funds, the study shows. Even then, only 1.9 per cent of the discontented workers went to court over their dissatisfaction. Of concern also is the fact that 60 per cent of trade unions are dormant even though they have a presence in 41.6 per cent of the surveyed workplaces.
It is also clear that poor legal enforcement mechanism and weak trade unions make pursuit of workers’ rights a virtually impossible task.
The study findings are shocking, more so in a country where for decades, the official front has been that besides the farmers, workers were the engine of its economy.
Our contention is that, if Tanzania is truly determined to achieve meaningful economic growth, the rights of workers must be duly addressed. When 80 per cent of corporate entities employees work without formal contracts, the government of the day stands accused of failure to oversee justice and the rule of law.
We can only hope that the unacceptably poor workers’ situation which the LHRC study exposes will be aptly addressed. Workers can only be optimally productive if they are fairly treated.
