Determinants of employee membership to labour unions in Uganda

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine factors influencing employee membership decisions in labor unions in Uganda. The study objectives included; establishing the relationship between education level and employee membership to labour unions, relationship between sex and employee membership to labour unions, the relationship between employee's age and labour union membership, and the relationship between annual gross income and labour union membership. The study was based on secondary data obtained from the Manpower survey Uganda of 2016/2017 conducted by UBOS. Data for the 4905 formal sector employees that participated in the Manpower survey Uganda was used. STATA was used in statistical analysis to analyze the demographic profiles and hypotheses testing. The analysis of the results using chi-square test and one way ANOVA showed an insignificant relationship between Age and Employee membership in labor unions. Annual gross income had a significant relationship with Employee membership in labor unions. There was an insignificant relationship between Sex and the rate of Employee membership in labor unions. Education of the formal employees was significantly related with Employee membership in labor unions. Logistic regression confirmed that the independent variables, sex and education level have a significant relationship with employee membership on labor unions. However, the findings indicate all employee membership in labour unions is greatly influenced by annual gross income, education and gender. Thus, the governing body, union leader and committees should formulate strategies focusing on these three factors to increase labour union membership among formal sector employees.