Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Dialogue to halt Organised Labour strike!

A group of labour unions coming together as organised labour has announced its intention to begin a nationwide strike today to protest the proposed sale of 60 percent of shares held by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in some four hotels.

The unions include the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives’ Association (GRNMA), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).

Others are the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), and the General Transport, Petroleum, and Chemical Workers Union.

The leadership of organized labor has, therefore, directed their members to stay away from work for as long as SSNIT fails to cancel the controversial hotel sale.

The hotels at the centre of the controversy are La Palm Beach Hotel, Labadi Beach Hotel, Royal Ridge Hotel, and Elmina Beach Hotel.

Once again, The Ghanaian Times reiterates its stance that a strike, like a demonstration, is a democratic tool available to members of society, including labour unions, to express their grievances with regard to anything they deem to be negatively affecting their welfare and well-being.

Thus, it does rush to condemn strikes or demonstrations but looks at the related issues and comments appropriately, usually appealing to cool heads.

Regarding the present matter, The Ghanaian Times can conclude that organized labor was not consulted before the process to sell SSNIT stakes in the hotels began, hence the protest.

Even though SSNIT is an independent entity and cannot be controlled by labour unions, it should understand that workers are its greatest stakeholders because it is their monthly contributions that give SSNIT the financial muscle to operate.

But for the law that binds workers, particularly those in the formal sector, to pay a percentage of their incomes to SSNIT towards their retirement, some of them would have abandoned SSNIT for certain reasons.

For instance, the 2019 report of an eight-member committee set up by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to look into the SSNIT Pension Scheme identified gaps in the computation of pension benefits by the Trust.

The report, among other things, adds that the SSNIT Pen­sion is low because SSNIT has misinterpreted the Pension Law, which has resulted in low pay­ment of pensions, thus making the contributors worse off.

The report confirms conversations among SSNIT retirees, which contributors in active service hear and wish a change would come one day.

Thus, any move by the Trust deemed suspicious and likely to affect SSNIT investments made with workers’ money and the future of workers would definitely be opposed by workers.

The only way out of such a situation, as it is with the present case, is to employ dialogue and ensure transparency while en­trenched positions are eased.

It is the hope that once this is done in the current hotel sale saga, it will help halt the organized labor strike; otherwise, it would have dire consequences for the country, considering the kind of professionals involved and the essential services they provide.