Minister concerned about industrial actions

Sunyani (B/A), March 3, GNA- Mr. Yaw Barimah, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment has expressed concern about industrial practices that had in most cases disrupted efforts of conciliation to ensure industrial peace in the country.

Strike actions, agitations, threats and intimidation, among others have impacted negatively on the country's reputation as a safe investment destination in West Africa, he noted.

Mr. Barimah said this in a speech read for him at the on-going three-day meeting of the National Executive Council of Civil Servants Association in Sunyani.

Even though the Labour Act Law 651 was meant to reduce unrests through the establishment of a tripartite labour commission, good legislative frameworks are not by themselves capable of addressing problems they are directed at, he said.

The Minister called on workers to make conscious efforts to keep faith with the provisions of the law to ensure that it worked. Mr. Barimah noted that partners do not exhaust dispute resolution procedures before embarking on industrial actions.

He emphasized that such attitudes did not augur well for the building of trust and positive partnership between workers, management and employers.

On the current labour front, he said even though some relative calm had been restored, industrial relations practice "falls far short of the standards required for a vibrant industrial growth and development". The Ministry is hopeful that the openness that has marked the relationship between all tripartite partners would serve as a meaningful basis for ensuring that our industrial disputes are not carried to heights that would endanger the productivity of our organizations, Mr. Barimah advised.

He called on the Association to continue to depend on social dialogue to address differences in opinion and that the meeting would try to avoid turning resolutions and conclusions into instruments of rhetoric.

Our deliberations should be convertible into workable initiatives, which would help to transform industrial practice from one based on the principle of confrontation to that of consensus building, he urged. Present were Dr. Alex Glover-Quartey, Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Yakubu Ziblim, President and Mr. Smart Chigabatia, Executive Secretary, both of the Association.