Minister of Public Service and Labour Fanfan Rwanyindo
Employers of both public and private institutions in the City of Kigali have been urged to ensure that created jobs are decent and productive.
This call was made by the Minister of public service and labour RWANYINDO KAYIRANGWA Fanfan while officially opening the 2023 Compliance Forum on Labour Standards, held under the theme ‘Promoting Decent Work for productivity.’
Employers and employees’ organisations were urged by the Minister to enhance the culture of dialogue, resulting into collective agreement, tailored to labour standards compliance, with optimal efforts
“The promotion of decent work to young people is a big concern; we believe that integrated approaches are needed…The extent of effort towards this compliance forum comes at a crucial moment, when we remain with a limited time to achieve the national target of creating at least 1.5 million decent and productive jobs, as stipulated in the National strategy for Transformation (NST 1),” she said.
The forum brought together employers from both public and private institutions, representatives of workers’ associations and other stakeholders from the City of Kigali.
It was revealed that the average rate of compliance in Kigali is 65%. This was rated by considering major standard areas; social security contribution, health insurance, payment of employees’ salaries through banking and financial institutions, among other indicators.
Jean Pierre Kayiranga a resident in Kicukiro district is a small-scale entrepreneur in the livestock farming. He employees 20 people and also believes that lack of decent working conditions demotivates workers.
“I strongly agree that failure to satisfy the needs of an employee, right from paying a meager salary to denying the worker other benefits like social security contribution, affects productivity, to the disadvantage of both the business owner and the same employee,” Kayiranga said.
Under the 2023 Compliance Forum on Labour Standards, participants look at other interventions to improve decent and productive values including collective bargaining between employers and employees for less conflicts, employees’ capacity building, establishing negotiation committees, fighting child labour, reinforcing the work of labour inspectors, follow-up on the approval of the minimum wage, among other challenges within the workforce.
International labour standards address a number of needs and challenges faced by workers and employers in the global economy. Since 1919, the International Labour Organization has maintained a system of international labour standards aimed at promoting opportunities for women and men, to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity.
