State Insurance Company faces many challenges

Ho (Volta Region) - Mr Kofi Davor, Executive-Secretary of Industrial and Commercial Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), on Tuesday asked Management and workers of the State Insurance Company (SIC) to brace up to face challenges posed to the profitability of the company.

He said many other outfits, including banking institutions had moved into selling products that were in the past the preserve of SIC and have even introduced new ones thereby, creating intense competition in the market.

Mr Davor was addressing the third Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the SIC Employees' Union of ICU of TUC, Ghana in Ho. Thirty delegates are attending the three-day conference, under the theme, "Challenges Facing The Insurance Industry In The Golden Age of Business- The Role of Management and Union".

Mr Davor said the loss of SIC's market share to newer companies might not mean the company was not doing well but the reality was that competition had put it in turbulent times.

He said issues of under cutting prices of products such as vehicle premiums were testimonies to the fierceness of the competition which might result in some close ups of some companies in the near future.

Mr. Davor said other challenges for workers in Insurance Business and other financial institutions included globalisation, which has led to the closure of branch offices because customers could be accessed through technological mediums.

He called for cooperation between management and unions to tackle the mutual interest of keeping their outfits above the bottom line. Mr Davor said both sides must "develop the reflex to talk", saying that labour had stopped "banging tables as we do, as there is pressure on all of us to understand the environment."

He said managements should take workers into confidence, knowing that as their heritage they must work for the survival of the company. Mr Davor called on the Union to look beyond issues of salaries and also tackle issues affecting job security.

Professor Isaac Mensah Ofori, Board Chairman of SIC, said the dynamics of business ownerships today called for a re-visit to the confrontational and adversarial relationship between managements and unions

He said the monopoly SIC enjoyed in the past was gone and hinted that a new Insurance Bill in Parliament would bring significant changes into the business. Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister, in a speech read for him appealed to the SIC Management to be transparent and involve the Union in decision making while the Union should in turn provide credible and truthful feedback for management initiatives.

He condemned the habitual late start of programmes, saying the concept of "African time" must be got rid off. The opening ceremony scheduled to begin at 0100 hours got off at 1330 hours as a result of the late arrival of delegates from Accra.

Mr Michael Biney outgoing Chairman of the Union said the SIC had in the year raised its market share from 39 to 47 per cent and called for motivational packages to galvanise workers to increase productivity.