Employers exploiting workers – ICU

The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) will tomorrow present a protest paper to the Employment and Labour Relations Minister over the alarming proportion at which employers are converting decent work (permanent employment) to precarious work (temporal employment), abusing the rights of workers in the process.

According to the union, a lot of employers are using the subterfuge of re-organisation amalgamation, takeovers, as well as outsourcing to concentrate on core business, among others, to unjustly retrench workers.

Speaking to The Finder ahead of World Decent Work Day, which falls tomorrow, ICU Secretary General, Mr Solomon Kotei said employers are converting permanent employment to temporary employment to cut down on operational costs and maximise profits at the expense of workers.

ICU will hold a press conference tomorrow at TUC headquarters, and then proceed to present the protest paper to the Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Haruna Iddrisu.

He noted that the conversion of decent work to precarious work has endangered work and deprived workers of their rights such as freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

“They then, in conclusion with some employment agencies, re-recruit the retrenched workers back into the same company as casual, temporary or contract workers.

“Unjustifiably, these retrenched workers who are re-recruited back into the same company as casual, temporary or contract workers are made to do the same work and work for the same number of hours as the so-called ‘permanent’ workers but with diminution in salaries/wages and deprivation of social insurance and protection, among other social benefits,” he said.

Mr Kotei said, evidently, some employers are abusing the privilege to employ casual and temporary workers by giving a permanent status to their usage.

This, he noted, contravenes Section 78 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) so much so that some casual and temporary workers have worked in some organisations continuously for over 10 years without being treated as permanent workers in flagrant violation of Section 75 (i) of the Labour Act.

He explained that the essence of this protest is to bring to the attention of the government the injustice and deprivation being meted out to this class of workers who, by no fault of theirs, have found themselves in this category of workers.

“We see this trend as harmful to the present and future security of workers in this country, and hereby vehemently protest and appeal to you (Minister) to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Labour Department does not collaborate with unscrupulous employers to cheat the workers of this country any longer through casualisation of labour, and bring an end to this dangerous phenomenon,” he said.

The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) concept of ‘Decent Work Agenda’ comprises four interrelated and mutually inclusive objectives; namely, creating employment, guaranteeing the recognition and respect of international labour standards, extending social protection, and promoting social dialogue.