The minimum wage in Rwanda is Rwf100. The wage was set in 1973. This wage has been under debate for over two decades now. The post genocide Rwanda has had more than five lobour ministers, including the current Prime Minister Anastse Murekezi, but none of them ever pushed for an increase of at least Rwf1.
The National Labour Council passed and submitted a proposed minimal wage in January 2017 to the Ministry of Public Service and Labour for approval and publication.
Rwanda is largely made of an informal sector. The current labour law doesn’t openly govern the informal sector and has created a legal challenge that hampered the process of seting a new minimum wage.
Eric Manzi, the Vice-President of the National Labour and the General Secretary of the Rwanda’s leading trade union, CESTRAR, said that workers have no problem with suggesting the minimum wage.
Instead, it is the private sector that has not been flexible, and agressively lobying to have the files folded in the ministry’s shelves.
“They see it as a threat to their current powers to negotiate with employees at their own terms,” says Eric Manzi.
“There are many challenges, especially caused by the business community. Maybe setting a new minimum wage is taking long because there are some other negotiations between the government and the private sector,” Manzi says.
Apparently the proposed minimal wage for domestic workers is of Rwf270 and Rwf7460 for air transport workers. This huge gap has forced the International Labour Law to interven, condemning the government for creating huge gaps inequalities among workers.
Parliamentarian Jean Baptiste Rucibigango, also President of the Socialist Labour Party, says that the minimum wage should be increased from Rwf100 to at least Rwf750.
The law N°13 /2009 of May 27, 2009 regulating labour in Rwanda, in its article 76, stipulates that “the Minimum Guaranteed Wage (MGW) per categories of work shall be determined by a ministerial order from the ministry of labour after collective consultations with the concerned organs”.
Yet, Article 3 of the above-mentinned law says that, ‘’The informal sector worker is not subjected to provisions of this law, except for issues relating to social security, the trade union organisations and those relating to health and safety at workplace.’’
The Minister of Public Service and Labour Judith Uwizeye has been on record explaining that the government has never been afraid of setting a minimum wage.
She says “the process is taking long”, because it requires consensus among all stakeholder. “Setting a minimum wage deeply affects the country’s life, so we need to carry out conclusive consultations with all the stakeholders, she was quoted in the press as saying.
The Minister told Taarifa yesterday that, “We have already received the contribution from Trade Unions and employers associations, and now we are the government level.” She did not provide more details.
The Wage Indicator Survey of 2012 shows the minimum wage is Rwf450
The survey that was conducted and published by Wage Indicator Foundation, University of Dar-es-Salaam; Economics Department, Kigali Independent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Studies and University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies shows that the minimum wage in Rwanda should be Rwf450.
2,074 persons were interviewed in different towns in all the provinces of Rwanda.
The survey says 26% of Rwandan workers earn less than Rwf150 per hour, another 24% earn between Rwf150 and rwf450, 29% earn between Rwf450 and Rwf1350. The remaining 21% earn more than Rwf1350 per hour.
It then found out that, currently employees with permanent contracts have by far the highest earnings; Rwf1008, whereas workers without contracts earn Rwf128 RWF.
Men have slightly higher wages compared to women, and young workers have substantial lower wages than workers in the oldest age group. Only 49% of the sample is paid on or above the poverty line of Rwf118,000 per month according to the survey.
Other interesting figures in the survey
Most workers live in households with on average of four members, including themselves. Some 4% of workers followed no formal education, two in ten stopped at elementary education, 44% completed secondary education, 6% followed post-secondary education and 26% followed tertiary education.
Editor’s Note:
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