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{
    "id": 220981,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/220981/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 158,
        "legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
        "slug": "ekwee-ethuro"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also wish to contribute to this Motion and thank the Minister for doing a job that this House has been asking for a long time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to state from the outset that I used to be an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development in the Eighth Parliament for the entire duration of the parliamentary term. While there, I noted the number of Questions that were coming to this House asking the Minister for a review of the labour laws. We set up a task force--- I am extremely excited that the job that we could not finish during our time, the hon. Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development, Dr. Kulundu, has been able to accomplish. That is why it does not shock me that we have about three Bills pertaining to this Ministry in a row! I think that this is pending work which should have been expedited ten years ago. This is work that is required in terms of meeting our commitments to the International Labour 1462 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 17, 2007 Organization (ILO). There is nothing fishy about these Bills and we are not answering to anybody; we are just committing ourselves to the obligations that we have entered into as members of the international community. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will concentrate my comments on the National Labour Board and the part of the Minimum Wages Council. I will start with the Minimum Wages Council. These provisions are retrogressive in this day and age. When we are dealing with liberalisation and free market economy, we should also liberalise the employment market because when we are talking about increasing employment opportunities and we keep determining the wage levels--- This should be left to the forces of demand and supply! We are going to discourage employers from hiring people if we continue to set and fix wages. And you know the kind of wages that the Minister announces on every 1st of May. They are really minimal! They do not serve any purpose apart from public relations. I really urge the Minister to reconsider this issue. I know it makes political sense sometimes to try to imagine that we are helping the lowest worker. But we are deluding ourselves as a country. The state is greater than the Government, and this should be made absolutely clear. We want our people to be in a position to gain employment! When the terms of our productivity improve--- I know that the Productivity Centre is already operational; and when the Productivity Centre will have an impact, in fact, fixing of minimum wages will be completely irrelevant. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my other contributions will be on the National Labour Office. This Bill has made great provisions in terms of ensuring that organised labour or employment is appreciated. I will start with Part I, the Preliminary, and look at the meaning of \"Contract of service\"; it says:- \"contract of service\" means an agreement, whether oral or in writing---\" If you are going to an industrial court to argue your case, how do you argue based on an oral agreement? I think that all agreements should be in writing, whether for one month, two months or three months. That should be the case because anything oral cannot be used against or for the promotion of the labour case. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wanted to agree with hon. Muturi on where we are defining the Labour Act in terms of this Act, the Employment Act, Labour Relations Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. I think it is important for the Minister to appreciate that all the Acts that relate to this Bill can be referred to at any particular time by the particular agency that is being employed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when you look at Article 6 on the composition of the Labour Board, particularly Articles 6(b) and 6(c), it talks about the \"most representative federation\" of trade unions as well as of employers. Clause 6(b) says: \"the general secretary of the most representative federation of trade unions\" while Clause 6(c) says:- \"the chief executive of the most representative federation of employers organization\". When you go to Clause 6(2), it says:- \"Subject to the provisions of this section, if there are two or more significantly representative federations---\""
}