Sunyani Municipal Council of Labour Holds Meeting

Dr. Yaw Baah, Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Thursday said the unilateral statement by the leadership of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) for the re-introduction of fuel subsidy was a pointer to Government’s decision to reduce fuel prices by 20 per cent.

Answering a question at a meeting of the Sunyani Municipal Council of Labour in Sunyani, he said the union made the statement at a meeting between representatives of the Government and the TUC last year.

The questioner wanted to know the stand of the Congress regarding the failure of the Government to abide by the workers’ request for the re-introduction of the fuel subsidy but rather chose a reduction by 20 per cent.

The meeting, attended by representatives of all the 18 union members of the Congress, discussed the national secretariat’s decision to hold this year’s May Day celebration in Sunyani and the election of new officers for the Municipal Council of Labour and the Municipal Women Council of Labour.

Dr. Baah explained that while negotiations were going on in Accra for the Government to consider the reintroduction of the subsidy, the leadership of the GPRTU surprisingly announced that no level of reduction could convince the union to reduce lorry fares.

“The GPRTU was even emphatic that if even the prices of fuel were reduced to any appreciable level, there must be a corresponding action by dealers of spare-parts, lorry tyres and other transport inputs to save drivers, vehicle owners and the entire transport industry.

“Such unilateral utterances by the leadership of the GPRTU might have cautioned the government to take a second look at its intention to reduce the fuel prices, especially petrol and gas and hence came out with a 20 percentage reduction instead of a complete reintroduction of the fuel subsidy”, he added.

Dr. Baah advised workers in the formal sector to make their retirement period known to their nearby Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) at least five years prior to the retiring age to make working and payment of their lump benefits easier and faster.

He was responding to a questioner who sought to know why lump payment of benefits used to delay.

Dr. Ansah blamed the delay on some of the workers who showed apathy to their own welfare by not helping officials of SSNIT to update their contribution records to help in the swift payment of their benefits.

The deputy general secretary cited a case when a worker of a company after 35 years of continuous contribution towards the scheme realized to his chagrin that as much as 208 months of his contributions did not reflect on his contributory record.

He, however, said although such defects could not deprive any contributor of his or her retirement benefits, it was worthy to note payment was bound to delay as the necessary documents had to be sought from the employer and SSNIT to know what went wrong with the victim’s payment record with the Trust.

The workers elected a new nine-member executive to serve a four-year period with Mr. Ebenezer Fordjour, a marketing officer of State Insurance Company emerging as the new chairman, Mrs. Julie Mensah, vice-chairperson, Mr. Alfred Tetteh, secretary, Mr. Reindolf Adomah, assistant secretary/organiser and Mr. Emmanuel Gbeze as treasurer.

Mrs. Comfort Fordjour was elected the women’s chairperson, Ms. Eugenia Anane, vice-chairperson, Ms. Gifty Adjei, secretary and Ms. Gladys Boateng, assistant secretary.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Fordjour who said he had been serving in various executive positions including local and national btanches for more than 10 years, thanked members on his election and promised to let his long experience guide him in his administration.**