Uganda National Teachers Union (abbreviation: UNATU) is a Ugandan Teachers' Union.

Background

Originally active as the Uganda Teachers Association (UTA), the Teachers' Association renamed itself the Uganda National Teachers' Union in March 2003 and thereby complied with the Trade Union Act of 1971. In 2006, these laws were updated with the Labor Unions Act. UNATU has been recognized as a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

since 2006. With its 140,000 members, it is the largest and oldest teacher union in the country. One of the major tasks is

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...

and the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, once a pioneer in education policy within

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, is now a developing country in the field of education. Low salary and a class size of 120 students makes the profession of being a teacher unattractive. Since its inception, the union has been calling for a 100% increase in pay, as well as benefits such as travel allowance,

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

and pension increases. In 2011, the union called for a strike and was able to demand concessions from

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and retired senior military officer who has been the 9th and current President of Uganda since 26 January 1986. Museveni spearheaded rebellions with aid of then ...

in the upcoming elections, which were diluted again as a result. At the same time, however, the union itself was in the Kitik, as they view the spin-off Uganda Liberal Teachers Union (ULTU) selects members selectively and their structures are non-transparent. Since 2016 UNATU has been negotiating with Janet Museveni, acting Minister of Education and

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

. In the negotiations, they could enforce at least a 50% wage increase and education spending under Museveni rose significantly.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Education-related professional associations Labor disputes in Uganda