FEDERATION OF UGANDA EMPLOYERS: About FUE

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About FUE

In 1958, a group of leading Ugandan companies and businessmen came together to find a way of working in a partnership that would promote their mutual interest.

That get together sought to find a way in which to consult, exchange information on questions affecting employer relations with employees. Out of this meeting arose a consultative society, which was named the Society of Ugandan Employers, officially registered on June 1, 1960 with an Executive Officer and a Secretariat at Udyam House. The organization had 36 members employing nearly 60, 000 people.

That Secretariat was set the task to information and advise its members, keep a tab on labour and amendments to legislations affecting employment, provide reports and facts and legal positions incase an industrial dispute arose, research on and analyse comparative terms and conditions of employment and to maintain liaison with its Kenyan and Tanzanian counterparts.

Over the years, the society expanded in membership and hence, in scope. It gained its current name in 1961 when it merged with the Federation of Industry and was renamed Federation of Uganda Employers. Its title changed again when it incorporated the Uganda Chamber of Commerce to become the Federation of Uganda, Commerce and Industry. It lost this appendage in 1980 when the Chamber of Commerce was re-established.

The Federation, or FUE as it is more commonly known, gained recognition by government as the sole organization representing employer views. As a result, it is a member to a number of government boards and committees.

These are:

The Labour Consultative Council
Special Security Advisory Council
Minimum wage Advisory Board and
Uganda Industrial Court.

Other boards on which FUE is a member include:

National Social Security Fund
National Curriculum Development Centre
Labour Law Review Committee
Technical Vocational Education and Training Authority Permanent Steering Committee
Uganda Management Institute
Ministry of Education and Sports Task Force on Busitema and Arapai Agricultural Colleges
East African Business Council
National Steering Committee on Child Labour and
Private Sector BUDS Supervisory Committee

This eclectic list of involvement is reflective of the diversity of issues affecting employment today. The range is from policy formulation, policy implementation, education, and the management of latter day concerns like child labour.

The importance of Employer of the Year Award is that for the first time, it brings to the forefront of public attention, the concerns of the sector. Perhaps of special importance is that it looks at this from the angle of the employee, who has to be recognized as the primary plank in the success of any business venture.