Labour unions expose Ghanaian employers

Members of the Industrial Liaison Council of Ghana, on Thursday said many employers in the country used all kinds of ploys to unjustly retrench workers.

It said, such subterfuge includes re-organisation, amalgamation, takeovers, and outsourcing to concentrate on core business and thereby, cut down on operational costs and maximize profits at the expense of the Ghanaian worker.

Mr Solomon Kotei, Secretary General of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), who presented the statement on behalf of the Council to mark the day, noted that, such ploys at times took place in collusion with employment agencies, which later recruit the workers on casual basis.

The statement titled: “From decent work to precarious work: the case of the Ghanaian worker”, was signed jointly by the Mr Kotei, on behalf of the ICU, Mr Prince Ankrah of the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) and Fuseini Iddrisu of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU).

The ICU-Ghana, the GMWU and the GTPCWU constitute the Industrial Liaison Council of Ghana.

Mr Kotei described the precarious worker as one, who occupies permanent position but denied permanent employee rights, which include reduction in salaries/wages and deprivation of social insurance and protection.

Globally, he said, such workers were subjected to unstable employment, lower wages and more dangerous working conditions.

“They rarely receive social benefits and are often denied the rights to join a union.

“Today in Ghana on the blind side of the law, we see and helplessly supervise the increasing use of subcontracting, which makes employers insert intermediaries between themselves and the workers in a kind of triangular relationship,” he stated.

Under this trend, Mr Kotei said the subcontractor earned super normal profit for no hard work done. “This trend is harmful to the present and future security of workers in this country,” he warned.

He noted that some employers were abusing the privilege to employ casual and temporary workers by giving a permanent status to their usage in contravention of sections 78 of the labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

He described this as unacceptable and called on the Government, employers, civil society and advocates of justice and workers alike, to stand up against the destruction of the decent work in Ghana by unscrupulous employers.

Decent Work Day is celebrated each year to create awareness among governments, employees, civil society organizations, workers, and other stakeholders of the desecration of decent work by some unscrupulous employers and their collaborators.