GJA joining TUC right step in wrong direction – Llyod Evans

Aspiring president of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), Llyod Evans, has cited the Association of breaching the Labour Act for joining the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

GJA President, Affail Monney, disclosed the Association’s plans to enroll employees in private media houses and engage their employers and management in a bid to improve the service conditions after receiving a certificate of unionisation from the TUC.

But Mr Evans, speaking to Class News, said the unionisation is a good step in the wrong direction.

He explained that the decision by the GJA “is a right step in wrong direction. The GJA is made up of various unions, ICU, Communications Workers Union and then Public Service Workers Union. You cannot be a member of a union after age 60. So that means almost 50 per cent of GJA members will be out”.

“Now, most of the members of the GJA are in management positions. So for example, the editor for Graphic is on management position, the editor for Times is in management position, the Director for Television at GBC is in management position so he’s not qualified to be a member of the GJA if it is a union.

“Refer to the Labour Act 2003 (651) page 30. Part 11 spells out who qualifies to be a union member. So this is a dicey issue. This issue of unionisation came in 2008 and it was being discussed and these things came up and the unionisation was put on a back burner so why rush? This is a very serious legal issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Monney believes the move by the GJA will increase the negotiation power of the GJA to have better conditions of service for media practitioners.