By Francis Nyonzo

Funny fact! Most dismissed workers do not file cases against their employers even though they are not paid severance as Labor law requires. This is a fact from research by a distinguished economic professor at Michigan State University, Enrique Seira et al. While their research has used data from Mexico their findings are relevant to most developing countries as they have concluded. Only 15% of workers pursue severance claims in court, with over 75% of the rest citing the court as “useless” or “too expensive.” Another observation shows that workers and lawyers are misinformed.

Theory of motivation of Abraham Maslow explains some issues in labor market in a very good way. In the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it is hard for a person to think of safety needs when physiological needs have not been met. In the labor market it is not easy for the labor to consider on how he/she enters the contract with the employer. It is then normal for an employer to think of the wage no matter how it is paid. The research of Information and Bargaining through Agents, has shown that Workers and firms often operate informally, with wages paid in cash and no formal contracts. Some firms require workers to sign undated resignation letters upon hiring. All these makes it hard for dismissed workers to prove wage levels or even the existence of an employment relationship.

All these interesting findings give a question of thinking like where lies the problem. Is it the workers, lawyers, courts or trade unions?

Who is paid to guarantee the welfare of workers?

Well, when anything bad happens between workers and employers, lawyers enter the equation although lawyers are taking workers as a customer at the specific time. The lawyers get the fee no matter the outcome of the case. And that is, lawyer may not exclusively work at the worker’s side. In fact, in most developing countries, law degrees do not have specialization which adds to the misinformation that lawyers may have in defending the workers. While, employees pay wages, it is not a sign that employees are on workers’ welfare.

“It is not hard to know that Trade Unions in most cases fail to protect their members during and after the end of the contract of their members.”

However, there are trade unions where workers do pay fees on monthly basis. Trade unions have historically served five key functions: service, representation, regulation, governance, and public administration. Ideally, trade union is an organization of workers that aims to improve their employment conditions. However, research show that the focus has shifted leading to a decline in their representative and regulatory roles. Well, trade unions continue to receive the fees from the workers as their members, but how do they keep their members informed about the labour laws, their rights and responsibilities?

In various campaigns, people have been receiving SMS in their phones, has any trade union sent an SMS to the members informing important sections of labor laws? In Tanzania, the paid minimum wage is significantly lower than the recommended minimum. In 2022, TUCTA’s Secretary-General Hery Mkunda stated that the minimum wage needed for a servants to sustain themselves is Tsh 1,010,000 ($391), while the actual minimum wage was only Tsh 315,000 ($122). The average income, Tsh 410,147 ($159), also falls below this recommended amount. According to the 2020/21 Integrated Labour Survey, 82.3% of employed people are in vulnerable jobs, lacking formal contracts and social protections, a common issue in many developing countries.

Should workers continue to pay fees to trade unions?

It is not hard to know that Trade Unions in most cases fail to protect their members during and after the end of the contract of their members. And this increases the problem of workers lacking even their severance when they face dismissal. When workers fail to provide evidence to the court when pursuing cases, it is because they lack documentations of proving that they have been employed in the particular organization. And this is not their mistake because they need to survive or fulfilling their physiological needs which makes them not to think of safety needs.

Research by Rogers Rugeiyamu et al has developing countries environment, especially Tanzanian environment is not favourable for Trade Unions to carry out their activities and improve the standards of workers. And when this is the case, it is useless to pay trade union fees for a subtle organization. In my opinion, trade union fees should be optional for developing countries where the environment is not conducive. This will make the trade unions that wants to stay in the market to real address the problems of workers for workers to feel safe to subscribe to them. Paying fees for an organization just because of the law, it makes the organization have the monopoly power and be less accountable for its original duties.

The fee paid to trade unions decreases the disposable income. Making the situation worse, when worker gets in trouble with his/her employee need to hire a lawyer instead of trade union to use the fee paid for all years of the service that their member has been to help him/her. That is, the 85% of the workers who do not pursue their employers for their severance as what Enriques’ research has shown shows different ways that workers lose.

I have not said anything about the courts, because courts decide depending on the evidence provided. Workers fail to provide evidence as they lack basic information about their rights and laws that govern them.

These are the writer’s own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Liberty Sparks. Do you want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at [email protected] for further clarification.