Uganda’s Local Government Workers Threaten Nationwide Strike Over Widening Salary Disparities

KAMPALA, Uganda – Uganda’s public service faces potential paralysis as local government workers across the country have issued a ultimatum to the central government: address the glaring salary disparities between them and their counterparts in central government ministries or face a nationwide strike. The threat, reported by Daily Monitor, highlights a deepening crisis in Uganda’s decentralized governance system and exposes the bitter inequities in compensation for public servants performing similar roles.

The Uganda Local Government Workers’ Union (ULGWU), which represents hundreds of thousands of teachers, health workers, administrators, and other civil servants at the district and municipal levels, has given the government a 30-day window to resolve the issue. The union argues that despite performing identical duties, local government employees earn significantly less than those employed directly by the central government, a situation they deem not only unfair but also economically unsustainable for their members.

The Core of the Grievance: A Tale of Two Paychecks

The dispute centers on a compensation structure that has created a two-tiered public service. For example, a primary school teacher employed by a district government might earn 30-40% less than a teacher with the same qualifications and experience who is on the central government’s payroll. This disparity extends across numerous professions, including nurses, agricultural officers, engineers, and administrative staff.

Union leaders provide concrete examples: a nursing officer at a district health center takes home a fraction of the salary of one at a national referral hospital in Kampala, despite often facing more challenging working conditions with fewer resources. This pay gap has persisted for years but has been dramatically exacerbated by recent economic pressures, including soaring inflation and the rising cost of living.

“We are tired of being treated as second-class civil servants,” declared a union representative from the Gulu District. “The work we do is essential. We are the face of the government in rural communities, yet we are paid peanuts. How can a teacher in a village school be expected to teach effectively when they are worried about how to feed their own family?”

Legal and Policy Framework: The Promise of Decentralization Betrayed?

The current crisis strikes at the heart of Uganda’s decentralization policy, which was enshrined in the 1995 Constitution and the Local Governments Act of 1997. The policy was designed to devolve power, responsibilities, and resources from the central government to local administrations, aiming to improve service delivery and enhance democratic accountability.

However, critics argue that the system has been undermined by the central government’s retention of financial control. While districts are responsible for hiring and managing staff for key sectors like education and health, they remain heavily dependent on central government transfers and grants to pay salaries and fund operations. This dependency creates the conditions for the very disparities now causing unrest.

The government has occasionally attempted to address the issue. The Public Service Pension Fund and various salary enhancement initiatives have been launched over the years, but their implementation has been inconsistent and often benefits central government staff first. A report by the Uganda Law Reform Commission has previously highlighted structural inconsistencies in public sector remuneration, noting that the ad-hoc nature of salary increases often widens existing gaps rather than closing them.

The Potential Impact: A Nation Grinding to a Halt

The threat of a nationwide strike by local government workers is not an empty one. If carried out, it would bring essential services across much of Uganda to a standstill.

• Education: Thousands of government primary and secondary schools in rural areas and smaller municipalities would be forced to close, disrupting the education of millions of children.
• Healthcare: District health centers, which are the primary source of medical care for most of the population outside major cities, would cease to function, creating a humanitarian crisis.
• Administration: Local revenue collection, permit issuance, land administration, and other critical municipal services would be frozen.
• Agriculture: Extension services that support the country’s backbone industry would be halted, affecting farmers’ productivity and livelihoods.

The economic and social disruption would be immense, putting tremendous pressure on the central government to resolve the dispute quickly.

Government Response and the Road Ahead

The Ministry of Public Service and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development have acknowledged receiving the union’s petition. In initial responses, government spokespersons have cited budgetary constraints and the need for a “phased approach” to harmonizing salaries across the public service.

They point to the immense fiscal pressure on the national treasury, which is grappling with high public debt, competing priorities like infrastructure development, and recent economic shocks. Finding the billions of shillings required to level the playing field for local government workers is a daunting challenge.

However, union leaders remain unmoved by these arguments. They contend that the money can be found by cutting wasteful expenditure, reducing the size of a bloated cabinet, and cracking down on corruption that siphons public funds away from essential services like salaries.

“This is a question of political will, not fiscal ability,” argued a senior ULGWU official. “When they want to buy new vehicles for ministers or fund a new project, the money appears. When it comes to paying a nurse a living wage, suddenly there is no money. We are no longer accepting this.”

A Test of Governance and Social Contract

This looming confrontation is more than a simple labor dispute; it is a critical test of Uganda’s governance model. The strike threat exposes the failure of decentralization to deliver equitable treatment for all public servants and risks eroding the morale of the very workforce tasked with implementing government policies at the grassroots level.

The outcome will have far-reaching implications. A failure to resolve the issue could lead to a permanent degradation of local government services as demoralized workers leave for better-paying jobs in the private sector or with NGOs, creating a vacuum that the central government cannot fill.

Conversely, a negotiated solution that begins to close the pay gap would represent a major victory for workers and a reaffirmation of the government’s commitment to equitable development across all regions. It would strengthen the social contract and demonstrate that the state values all its employees equally, regardless of their postcode.

With the clock ticking on the 30-day ultimatum, all eyes are on the government’s next move. The silence from local government offices across Uganda is becoming deafening, a quiet before a storm that could shut down the nation’s heartland.