Ministry to work on Legislative Instrument on strike action

Koforidua, Aug. 29, GNA - The Deputy Chairman of the Labour Commission, Mr. Kwasi Danso-Acheampong, has called on the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment to expedite the passing of the Legislative Instrument prohibiting essential services from embarking on strike action.

This provision of the Labour Law would enable the management and staff of the institutions to be well-informed on how to address such issues.

The provision of the Law was in compliance with an International Labour Organisation (ILO) recommendation to member states, which affected institutions, including medical and utility services workers, whose strike actions could endanger the safety of lives and property. Mr. Danso-Acheampong made the call when speaking on "Prospects for integrating the concerns of women at the workplace," at a three-day workshop on women's legal rights for women activists of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) at Koforidua on Monday.

The workshop was among a GTUC/UNDP Government of Ghana project on consolidating democratic governance in the country.

According to him, to compensate such workers and employers of the affected institutions, the Law compelled the Labour Commission to, within 14 days, ensure the resolution of any industrial action threats involving those essential services through mediation and arbitration.

Mr. Danso-Acheampong also called on gender activists to advocate the insertion in Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA), provisions which would empower victims of ill-treatment or sexual harassment to resign but hold their employers responsible for their termination or resignation from the employment as provided by the Law.

According to him, the Law had repealed 17 former discriminatory labour laws found to be inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution and ILO Conventions, including those, which prohibited women from being engaged to work on underground mining or at night, except those who are pregnant.

Mr. Danso-Acheampong asked the participants to be conversant with the provisions of the Labour Law and come out with proposals for the implementation of some provisions affecting women but not well-defined, citing the fate of a woman who is employed at the time of unknown pregnancy or pregnant during probation period for inclusion in CBAs. He asked women leaders to advise their colleagues to scrupulously abide by safety measures put in place by employers or insist on their provision to protect them from spending their pension lives and incomes treating chronic diseases acquired during working life.