The case of Mukwano Industries former employee Kasim Ssuuna
beaten senseless by three policemen for alleged trespass was in the news last
week.
Ssuuna, had lost two fingers while working for the company
in December 2012 and was compensated for the injury. He was later dismissed for
indiscipline. Ssuuna went to the factory to demand more money for his injury
and was set upon by the three.
The policemen should answer for their action, but it still
leaves the issue of Ssuuna and his former employers hanging and raises the
wider question of employee-employer relations.
The tension between the employers and labour are an ever
present one.
On the one hand are the managers, who oversee capital on
behalf of the owners, their main interest is to manipulate labour, capital and
land in such a way as to show a profit and therefore a return on the capital
invested. The do this by maximising the output from the factors of production
while minimising the cost of generating this output.
The workers on the other hand want to be paid as much as
possible for their labour. This pay depends on several factors including the
workers’ skill levels, the going market rates for the workers’ skill and not
least of all the owners’ need to pay as little as possible for as much output
as possible.
The relationship between the workers and the owners of
capital is not an equal partnership with the advantage often skewed towards
company owners, hence the reason for labour laws meant to more evenly balance
the relationship, but even more importantly the presence of labour unions.
Labour unions seek to leverage the numbers of the workers
against the power of the owners to ensure that in the search for profit the
workers are not treated unfairly.
However the unions in looking out for their members rights
have to balance this against the viability of the business. If they push for
salaries and benefits that are too high the company will prove unsustainable
and eventually shut down. No profits. No jobs. Everybody loses.
It would be utopian to expect that capitalists and the
labour unions can be best of friends, if they are there is something wrong. The
practical thing would be for both sides to appreciate the mutuality of their
relationship and operate with that in mind.
Back to present day.
According to testimony from the labour unions and
corroborated by management, Ssuuna was compensated sh1.1m for his injuries. One
may argue about the amount paid out but that would be an issue for the law on
workers’ compensation and the insurance company which paid out the
compensation, with payments paid according to a formula incorporated in the law
and is a factor of his income.
By the time the compensation is paid out it is endorsed by
the labour office, in the gender and labour ministry.
There is a law of dealing with these issues and for all
intents and purposes it seems to have been followed to the letter.
There is a temptation in this country to resort to
extra-judicial means to resolve our issues.
They may afford us short term relief, remove the
inconvenience of going through laid out processes and may even win one some
small PR gains. But for every time that we cut corners it is a weakening of the
processes that serves to protect us.
My favourite example is the police. When we are robbed or
have an incident that requires police attention many times we ignore it looking
to resolve issues without enrolling the police. So when budgets in the police
are doled out, they will check your police stations case load and decide to
allocate it less money than it probably needs diminishing its capacity to
respond effectively. A self-fulfilling prophecy.
For fear of being accused of blaming the victim, Ssuuna by
taking the law into his own hands -- bypassing the channels open to him to
protest his case threatens the viability of Mukwano Industries and puts
hundreds more jobs at risk in so doing.
Is that stretching the issue too much? Maybe it is. But if
you think about with the speed of communication today deals are scuttled by
averse publicity. For a company like Mukwano which exports to and sources
finance from foreign markets this can have a real bearing on operations.
The workers’ rights should be the protected to the full
extent of the law, if the law is inadequate we should change. While it might not
be fashionable to see the capitalists’ point of view on disputes with workers
we have to remember they are the generators of wealth, jobs and taxes we so
badly crave and they like all of us deserve the benefit of doubt.
