An analysis of the role of labour unions in the protection of employment rights: a case study of the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU)

Abstract

This study analyses the role of the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) in protecting the employment rights of teachers in Uganda. Using a mixed-methods approach combining doctrinal legal research with semi-structured interviews of 49 respondents, including teachers, UNATU representatives, government officials, legal experts, and civil society organizations, the research examines the legal strategies employed by UNATU, assesses their effectiveness, and identifies challenges hindering the protection of teachers' rights. The study finds that while Uganda has a comprehensive legal framework for protecting teachers' employment rights, including constitutional guarantees, statutory protections, and international treaty obligations, significant gaps exist between legal provisions and practical implementation. UNATU has employed various strategies including collective bargaining, lobbying, capacity building, and industrial action to advocate for teachers' rights. The union has achieved notable successes in securing salary increments, improving working conditions, and influencing policy development, particularly through the National Teachers' Policy (2018) and various collective bargaining agreements. However, UNATU faces substantial challenges including limited financial resources, fragmented government systems, legal restrictions on essential services, and inadequate enforcement mechanisms for collective bargaining agreements. The classification of education as an essential service creates constitutional tensions between teachers' rights to strike and statutory limitations. The study reveals significant disparities in UNATU's effectiveness, with primary school teachers generally expressing more positive views than secondary school teachers, who feel inadequately represented. Key legal gaps identified include the absence of binding enforcement mechanisms for public sector collective bargaining agreements, overly broad interpretation of essential services restrictions, jurisdictional fragmentation in labour dispute resolution, and inadequate protection for individual teachers facing employment rights violations. The research concludes that while UNATU has played a significant role in advancing teachers' rights, comprehensive legal and institutional reforms are needed to create a more effective framework for protecting teachers' employment rights. The study recommends strengthening collective bargaining enforcement mechanisms, clarifying essential services definitions, enhancing UNATU's organizational capacity, improving coordination between government ministries, and developing specialized legal protections for teachers. These findings contribute to understanding the complex dynamics between labour unions, legal frameworks, and employment rights protection in developing countries' education sectors.

Keywords: Teachers' unions, employment rights, collective bargaining, labour law, education policy, Uganda, UNATU