Challenges Facing Trade Unions In Dispute Settlement At Places Of Work In Tanzania A Case Study Of Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco)

ABSTRACT

Labour disputes have been common in many organizations and its source has sometimes been ill defined. Many employers/organizations have put in place a mechanism for settling workplace disputes in order to have a smooth way of handling such disputes. However, concerned parties in dispute settlement process have been facing some challenges in the dispute settlement process. If the dispute settlement is not well managed or mishandled, it might cause irreparable cost. This necessitated examining the incidences of labour disputes and challenges facing trade unions in settling labour disputes at places of work, taking TANESCO as a case study. The specific objectives of this study were to determine the causes of labour disputes, to examine the degree of awareness of members on the roles of trade unions and to identify the challenges facing trade unions in dispute settlement at places of work.

This study employed a triangulation of approaches such as case study and cross sectional design. A total of 113 respondents employees were randomly sampled to get data on the problem. Data collection was done through interview where structured questionnaires were used. Out of the 113 sampled workers, 92 answered and returned the questionnaires while the remaining did not. The pre testing was done before embarking on a comprehensive data collection. The results were analyzed through the use of SPSS -15 and then outputs were presented in terms of frequency tables and figures or charts.

The study found out that low awareness of the Employment and Labor Relation Act among employees, low salaries, poor management system and lack of transparent system of governance have been the core causes of labour disputes. The study also

found out that majority of employees were aware of the roles of trade unions that focus on advocating the rights of members in terms of bargaining power and dealing with member cases. The initiatives that have been undertaken by the government to deal with labour disputes included capacity building, meetings for the aim of settling conflicts and increasing salaries.

The major challenges facing trade unions in settling labour disputes at places of work noted includes lack of enough knowledge of the Employment and Labour Relations Act among many employees, trade union leaders and management members. In addition financial crunches were noted as a challenge that trade union do face in settling work place disputes.

This study recommends that the government should provide legal education to the staff, management and trade union leaders so as to avoid unnecessary labour disputes, employees should play part in the preparation of strategic plans, trade unions should be involved in the designing of government plans so as to ensure that members are well informed on what the government is doing for them and the government should ensure that trade unions have enough financial capacity to meet costs related to labour dispute settlement for the benefit of their members. Finally it is suggested that the government should initiate process of introducing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system which has proved to be very effective in workplace dispute settlement.