Africa-Press – Uganda. Top officials at the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) leadership have intervened to stop work-related tension at the three Entebbe Expressway toll stations.
For close to a week, employees have been protesting poor working conditions, with some taking their frustration to social media, claiming they are being subjected to a 12-hour working period contrary to the eight hours they signed in their contracts.
Unra executive director Allen Kagina on Sunday called for a crisis meeting with top supervisors.
On the same day, Unra tweeted: “Sunday Office: UNRA_ED has convened a site meeting with @Egis, the contractor on Kampala—Entebbe Expressway following unprecedented crisis reports from the public and staff working on the toll road. This is intended to offer immediate action to the concerns raised.”
Unra spokesperson Allan Ssempebwa yesterday told Daily Monitor that the meeting addressed concerns raised by staff working on the road.
“The contractor was tasked to ensure adequate communication between them [contractor] and their staff so that there are no gaps of misrepresentation and unfairness,’’ he said.
Unra contracted Egis, a French company, to manage and collect toll fees on the highway.
There are three different workstations (Kajjansi, Mpala and Busega) with 20 to 25 collectors each.
A toll collector at Mpala Station, who preferred anonymity to speak freely, alleged that they had started working for 12 hours instead of the eight hours stipulated in their contracts.
But Mr Ssempebwa said: “It’s not true that the contractors are working for 12 hours.”
He added: “It was only a nightmare that was being mooted by the contractor and before they could implement it, the staff got to know and complained. The communication was not effective.”
Resolution mechanisms
Mr Ssempebwa said the meeting at the weekend resolved to establish a staff council that will ensure immediate resolution of issues.
“So that workers will be able to air out their issues,” he said.
But a source, who yesterday attended a meeting organised by the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway human resource team in Busega, alleged that they were being convinced to adjust to the 12-hour schedule.
Our repeated attempts to get a comment from Egis were futile by press time yesterday. Also, our repeated email messages to the company’s website went unanswered.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
