Investors to be inspected to ensure safety of workers

Government has been asked to inspect all multinational companies and investors setting up in Uganda so as to hold them accountable where they fall short of health and safety requirements.

This will protect Ugandan workers working with such companies. The call was made by civil society organizations that were responding to recent allegations from workers of the Royal Van Zanten, a flower farm based in Kyengera that, they were forced into a greenhouse that had just been sprayed resulting into health complications.

The executive director of the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA) one the CSOs that addressed the press, Irene Ovonji said the actions of RVZ and other farms in the horticulture sector violates Ugandan laws and EU global standards on business, investment and human rights.

All flower farms in Uganda have international certification based on International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and other optional international benchmarks.

These ensure that the farms conform to environmental, health, safety and labor minimum standards and these should demonstrate to buyers and consumers of their products that products have been cultivated under decent working conditions.But these are not being followed by farmers in Uganda ,they are not giving their workers protective gear claiming the flowers are delicate  so should be harvested with bear hands, no nose masks, while some workers are harassed sexually in exchange for promotions among other human rights  abuses added Ovonji.

"The incident brings to light a chilling practice of intimidation and violence that affects low income workers in various industries in Uganda including commercial flower farms, factories due to non-compliance," she added

 According the workers, the green house had been sprayed the previous night and workers were asked to harvest the flowers the following day, exposing them to the chemical that turned into poison in their bodies.

This follows complaints from over 85 workers who are said to have been forced into a greenhouse that had just been sprayed, leading to poisoning, according to one of 85 women, Resty Nantume a victim.

"When we entered greenhouse 7, we started feeling dizzy, vomiting, and Diarrhea. We were rushed to the farm clinic; they gave us Panadol but the symptoms continued until we called the Union people who took us to another hospital for further treatment," Narrated Nantume, in a press conference.

But under normal procedures, workers can only enter a greenhouse to harvest flowers after it has rested for five days after spraying.

That way the chemicals will have been neutralized, the remaining invisible ones may not affect the workers but this was ignored by management, explained Jennifer Nassali, the general secretary of the Uganda Horticultural Industrial Services Providers and Allied Workers union (UHISPAWU).

There are about 19 flower farms in Uganda, in addition to two others producing fruits and vegetables under the umbrella association Uganda Flower Exporters Association (UFEA).

It is estimated that flowers worth $35 million were exported in 2008 and the leading buyer is the Netherlands which takes about 85.2%. Others include UK at 3.1%, Germany 2.1%, South Africa 2.1 % and Italy 1, 7%. Currently the flower industry employs about 6000 people majority are women

Other issues affecting works in flower farms

Long working hours, in hot green houses  or cold storage rooms, health problems emanating from the use of chemicals like pesticides and cleaning ,materials without  adequate protective gear, sexual harassment, lack of social security, no injury benefits among others.