‘Stay away from workers’ pension funds’ - CWU to government

The Communication Workers’ Union of TUC (CWU) has asked the Government to stay away from workers’ pension funds and other investments to ensure industrial peace and harmony.

The Union said currently, workers had been trying to make ends meet and to survive the economic hardship and cautioned government to resist any temptation to reduce workers to “beggars”.

It, therefore, advised the government to show the way by reducing the number of ministers and appointees to cut down on expenditure instead of “exploiting the poor workers” in its debt restructuring programme.

A statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr Joseph Yao Hotor, the General Secretary of CWU, expressed the Union’s disapproval of the government’s invitation to eligible home bond holders to surrender their investment packages for a new one.

“We are not yet done with negotiating base pay and for the government to suddenly announce haircuts on pension funds in its debt restructuring/exchange programme, clearly portray how unconcerned it is about workers welfare,” the statement said.

It said that arrangement would make the already poor worker worse off, hence must be avoided.

The Union, however, assured its members that their monies were safe and would not be lost in any form to the debt restructuring the government had agreed to.

It urged members to continue to remain calm in these difficult times “as the TUC and its affiliates are discussing the issue with all the seriousness it demands and will get back to members on the next line of action…”.

On Monday, December 5, 2022, the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta invited eligible bondholders to exchange approximately GHC 137.3 billion of the domestic notes and bonds of the Republic for a new one.

This announcement did not go down well with Organised Labour and all affiliates, who vowed to resist it as it would make workers and pensioners worse off.