Govt urged to strengthen public sector organisations

Government has been urged to strengthen public sector organisations with the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to battle the coronavirus.

Felicia Kraja, Northern Regional Acting Secretary for the Trade Union Congress, noted that workers in the country need to be resourced to motivate them into helping increase production so as to grow the economy. “This will help ensure the safety of workers in the discharge of their duties to grow the economy,” she said.

The workers’ union executive said this during the May Day celebration in Tamale, which came off at the forecourt of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

The unions, represented by their leaders, expressed gratitude to government for the numerous interventions to support both government and private workers across the country.

She said the union has been embarking on sensitisation about the disease in the region to keep workers safe and emphasise the need to adhere to personal hygiene.

The Northern Regional Chairman for the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Laar Yaw-Naanang, admonished parents to support private schools to enable them pay teachers while at they have to stay home. “Teachers in the private schools also have a way of reaching out to their students, but the complaints of the teachers are that they have not been paid for the period because schools have closed,” he said.

Jacob Wellington, Industrial Relations Officer for the Health Service Workers Union, demanded government intervention for frontline workers on the tax exemption and 50 percent increase in salary for the health workers. “If we don’t take care, it will have an effect on the quality of health delivery in the country,” he said.

He advised the public to sustain social distancing protocols stipulated by the World Health Organisation and health experts to help curb the pandemic.