All about the law, structures of organized labour; sacking of 3 Sunon Asogli workers

Under the Industrial Act (1965) Act 299, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) had the singular authority to represent Ghanaian workers as their mouthpiece until workers opposed their power because workers did not enjoy the service rendered to them.

The agitations led to the passage of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) to replace TUC with the term Organized Labour.

Speaking on this topic on BizTech on GhanaWeb TV, the General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson, noted that though Organized Labour was not defined in the new law, TUC still holds on as the mother body to represent all trade unions in Ghana.

He said, "The name Organized Labour was adopted in the 2003 Labour Act and that has become the operative name for it for workers' groupings but before then, we had the Industrial Relations Act 1965 Act 299 which only recognized the Trades Union Congress as the mouthpiece or the representative of Ghanaian workers."

"The law did not define organized labour properly so it is for us as trade unions to come together to make sure that we structure ourselves to be able to properly represent Ghanaian workers," he added.

This led to the suing of the TUC by the Ghana Federation of Labour in 2013 to challenge their power.

In 2016, the matter was settled out of court but the unions were tasked to institute structures that will serve all Ghanaian unions.

Abraham Koomson, while speaking on GhanaWeb TV's BizTech programme asserted that despite the formation of the structures, TUC has been adamant in implementing them.

In his view, the TUC feels threatened by the structures as they may trample on their authority.

He said, "We [GFL] took the TUC to court in 2013 to challenge their capacity because they were doing certain things without consulting other unions...We were in court for 3 years. In 2016, there were some interventions that we should resolve this misunderstanding out of court. That was April 25, 2016. We started the process of consolidating our structures to represent the organized labour which has been mentioned in the new law."

"TUC leadership realized that once we operationalize the new structures, perhaps, their relevance will also be subdued," the General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour told host of BizTech, Ernestina Serwaa Asante.

Touching on the dismissal of three workers of Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, Abraham Koomson, said the TUC cannot threaten an industrial strike as it is against the law.

He explained that per the law, Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited falls under essential services.

Abraham Koomson also spoke on the leasing of Tema Oil Refinery to Torentco, how government can fix the broken economy on this edition of BizTech on GhanaWeb TV with Ernestina Serwaa Asante.

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