Takoradi marks May Day with a workers parade

Takoradi, May 2, GNA - A parade of workers belonging to the various unions of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), was on Sunday held at Takoradi to mark this year's May Day celebration. Organizations, which participated in the parade, included the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Post, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Social Security and National Insurance Trust, Audit Service, Quality Control Company and the Ghana Railway Company. Some 30 workers were presented with awards including table top refrigerators and coloured television sets. Addressing the parade, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, said the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) Government sees job creation as a panacea to unemployment and was bent on creating the necessary conditions to make jobs available especially to the teeming youth.

He said the Government was equally concerned about low remuneration among some public sector workers. "It is my firm belief that the outcome of migration of public sector workers' salaries onto the single spine salary structure would address those problems", Mr. Aidoo said. Mr Aidoo said the NDC, which believes in social democracy, had a social contract with the people and would thus not do anything that would make workers worse off.

He said the Local Enterprises and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP) was a major initiative aimed at job creation. Mr Aidoo said the Programme, which is a collaborative initiative between the government and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, would among others, served as vocational skills development and employment creation to enhance the income levels of the people. In this regard, he appealed to the teeming jobless youth to take advantage of LESDEP, The Youth in Agriculture Programme and other interventions to create jobs for themselves and earn a livelihood. Mr Aidoo asked workers to avail themselves of training opportunities at their workplaces and to use dialogue instead of militancy to address labour issues.

Mr Ellis Ankomah, Western Regional Secretary of the GTUC, read the address of Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Congress. Mr Asamoah said workers were not being treated fairly and they continued to receive low pay and their rights were being abused. He said to overcome these challenges workers needed to be empowered to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. Mr Asamoah said Ghanaian workers should not be denied the opportunity to join trade unions of their choice and to have rights to bargain collectively. 2 May 11