The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz Social Sciences Master Dissertations 2013 Challenges facing trade unions in dispute settlement at places of work in Tanzania: a case study of Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) Magoti, Manyerere N The University of Dodoma Magoti, M.N. (2013). Challenges facing trade unions in dispute settlement at places of work in Tanzania: a case study of Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO). Dodoma: The University of Dodoma. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/1302 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. CHALLENGES FACING TRADE UNIONS IN DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AT PLACES OF WORK IN TANZANIA A CASE STUDY OF TANZANIA ELECTRIC SUPPLY COMPANY LIMITED (TANESCO) By Manyerere Nyakisanyi Magoti A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master in Public Administration of the University of Dodoma The University of Dodoma October, 2012 CERTIFICATION The undersigned certifies that he has read and hereby recommends for acceptance by the University of Dodoma dissertation entitled Challenges Facing Trade Unions in Settling Labour Disputes in Tanzania: A Case of Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master in Public Administration of the University of Dodoma. ......................................................... PROF.. PETER A. KOPOKA (SUPERVISOR) Date…………………….... i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, Manyerere Nyakisanyi Magoti declare that this dissertation is my own original work and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University for a similar or any other degree award. Signature…………………………….................... No part of this Dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author or the University of Dodoma. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT A work of this nature and magnitude cannot be completed single handed without extensive moral and material support from different individuals and institutions. It is therefore impossible within such a limited space to make individual acknowledgement here, but I hereby thank all who made this work possible. May the Almighty God bless and reward you all. However to the following, I am particularly indebted: First and foremost, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my beloved wife, BILLIA for her invaluable support, blessing, and encouragement. Special appreciations are accorded to my supervisor, Prof. Peter Kopoka for offering expert advice. Without his guidance, love, willingness to offer constructive criticisms, encouragement and timely constructive comments this study would have not been possible. I am also grateful for the encouragement and tolerance that I received from Mr. Aaron Nanyaro, the former Zonal Manager, TANESCO Central Zone, my beloved friends, and staff without forgetting my beloved sons, Andrew, Erick an Thomas and my daughter Veronica for their unconditional love in supporting my quest for knowledge. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those whose names do not appear in this dissertation. I really recognize the role they might have played in one way or another towards the production of this work. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my father, the late ANDREA NYAKISANYI MAGOTI. May the almighty GOD rest his soul in eternal peace. AMEN iv 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 v 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. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATION .............................................................................................................. i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ............................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS .................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................ 2 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 2 1.1Background to the Problem ..................................................................................... 2 1.2. Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................... 8 1.3 Objectives of the study .......................................................................................... 9 1.3.1 General Objective ................................................................................................ 9 1.3.2 Specific objectives ............................................................................................. 10 1.4. Research questions. ............................................................................................. 10 1.5. Significance of the study ..................................................................................... 10 1.6. Scope and limitations of the study ....................................................................... 11 1.6.1 Scope of the study ............................................................................................. 11 1.1.1 Limitations of the study................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................. 13 LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................