Union leaders urged to study new labour law

Kumasi, March 21, GNA-Mr Danso Acheampong, legal officer of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has called on union leaders to study the new labour laws carefully to enable them to play their roles efficiently to ensure a predictable and reliable industrial relations practice in the country.

He said the new labour law Act 651 of 2003, aimed at changing the way labour issues had been handled in the country over the years and it was therefore, incumbent on union leaders to change their attitudes and build on a situation where industrial relations practice would be more predictable to attract investment into the country.

Mr Acheampong made the call at the opening of a three-day seminar for sustainable trade union activities in the road transport industry in Ghana in Kumasi on Monday.

It was organised by the General Transport, Petroleum and chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) of TUC with support from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) based in the UK and the Finnish Solidarity Centre (SASK) based in the Finland.

Thirty participants from the Intercity STC Coaches, GPRTU, Metro Mass Transit, Kingdom Transport Services, King Jesus Transport Union and officials from the GTPCWU are attending the seminar.

It aims at sensitising the participants on the new labour law, encourage them to organise the unorganised workers in the road transport industry to benefit from the services of the road transport unions and the ITF and keep them abreast with the current information on road traffic regulations, customs procedures and immigration issues. The seminar would also refresh the minds of the participants on road safety and health issues such as HIV/AIDS and other ECOWAS protocols on road transport.

Mr Acheampong said the new labour law was more friendly in terms of language and content and also seeks to decriminalise industrial relation issues and provide a more responsive and flexible legal regimes to resolve labour conflicts speedily.

He urged them to do away with the old negative things and pursue programmes that would improve the work of the unions.

Mr Pius Quainoo, General Secretary of the Construction and Building Materials Workers Union, urged the members to adopt effective communication strategies that would help eliminate rules and regulations that were inhibiting the progress of their unions.

Mr Emmanuel Armstrong Mensah, General Secretary of GTPCWU, called on the various unions to work as a team and help those outside their unions to get on board to enable them benefit from the services of the unions and the ITF.