Strikes cost Ghana ?600m in six months

Mrs. Angela Ofori-Atta, Deputy Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, on Monday said Ghana lost over ?600m within the last six months due to wages paid to some workers who did not deserve it.

She said the amount was lost due to strike actions in work places some of which did not have legitimate causes. Mrs Ofori-Atta, who was addressing the opening of a five-day productivity workshop in Accra said there have been about 25 strike actions, some lasting for about half a day to a maximum of three days within the last six months.

"We have lost in the past half year, on account of strikes alone, earnings to the tune of more that ?600m in monies paid out to workers, who have not technically been productive on those strike days," she said.

Mrs Ofori-Atta said there were approximately 22,091 people in the various industries and fields of endeavour, in both private and government sectors, who caused the loss of the money, which can be translated into about 40,000 man-days.

"If one calculates a man-day of these strikers at even ?15,000 per day, because the strikers included skilled persons and professionals, then collectively we have lost a lot over the past half year," she said.

The Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) organized the five-day workshop with sponsorship from the Japanese Trade Union Congress (JTUC)-RENGO.

The Trade Union Congress of Ghana and Ghana Employers' Association are also collaborating. There are about 30 participants from three organizations attending. They include, VLISCO Ghana group made up of Juapong Textiles Limited, Ghana Textile printing Company Ltd, Premium African Textiles Company Ltd. Others are Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority both Takoradi and Tema and Kama Industries.

Mrs Ofori-Atta said administrative and management issues were crucial to the enhancement of productivity, hence the need for more sophisticated analyses to inform the public about the real cost of strikes to the nation.

She urged the TUC and GEA to help in this direction, to help curb the frequent industrial strikes. She said government had, on its part laid the foundation for a productivity movement, which would be spearheaded by the MDPI.

Mrs Ofori-Atta said Government envisioned tripartite negotiations, which would legitimately include productivity factors in the determination of wage increases. She added that there should be organized labour that educated its members to negotiate, offering increased productivity in exchange for bonuses.

Alhaji Hassan A. Sunmonu, Secretary General OATUU, said the objective of the workshop was to learn about innovative ways of productivity improvement at the workplaces and the use of it to establish productivity improvement networks in workplaces.

"One of the main weaknesses we have on out continent is low productivity at both the enterprise and national levels," he said, adding that without increasing productivity, national and personal incomes would not increase.

Kwesi Adu-Amankwa, TUC Secretary-General, urged the participants to endeavour to translate all that they would be taught into practice since Ghanaians had in recent times been noted for taking part in a lot of seminars and workshop without translating all that they have studied into practice.