Union fears collapse of industry

The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) has warned of the imminent collapse of local industry under the weight of unbridled competition from abroad.

This, it fears, will spell massive job losses among its membership as employers threaten to downsize their operations to stay above water.

In a circular released to the media and signed by its General Secretary, Solomon Kotei, the Union blamed the unbridled open-market economy currently being practiced for compounding the situation of local industry.

It noted that Ghanaian industries are struggling to attempt legitimate increases in prices of their products because of the negative competition from cheap and sub-standard imports.

It said the problems bedevilling the private sector, if not tackled with the urgency they deserve, are likely to spell the economy’s doom -- with manufacturing, believed to be the bedrock of industry, shrinking fast as a share of GDP. Around a decade ago it accounted for more than a tenth of GDP, but this has since fallen to less than 7 percent.

“It is sad to know that we have opened our borders and ports too wide for undeserving foreign goods, such that all kinds of things are being imported into the country,” the ICU statement said, adding that it is gravely worried about the myriad challenges confronting the industrial sector.

According to the Union, minutes of meetings between its membership and most employers seem to have amazing commonalities -- in that employers are complaining bitterly about the threat to their survival, with some showing a tendency to close down their businesses.

“Some have even gone to the extent of notifying the Union of imminent lay-offs,” it said, adding that in order to keep businesses from shutting down, it has had to suspend salary negotiations and the review of other conditions of services for its membership on numerous occasions.

“We seem to have over-liberalised our economy and there is a need to re-examine our national policies before we are overtaken by events.”

The Union said it is sensing the formation of dark clouds over local industry, and noted that some years ago it signalled caution about the open economy and its potential to kill the textiles industry -- and today products from China have strangled both the Akosombo and Volta Textiles companies.

The Union also expressed sadness that micro-businesses are closing by the day. It likened the situation whereby the Registrar-General registers a good number of new small-scale enterprises annually but little care is given to their survival to a hen laying a thousand eggs but only being able to hatch five.

Based on its numbers, the ICU views itself as the voice of labour and is therefore suggesting to government, policymakers, and managers of the economy to take practical steps to ensure growth in small-scale industry. “Special attention must be paid to the major companies as they struggle to survive,” it said.

The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU)-Ghana, the largest industrial labour union in the country, organises over 75,000 employees in various occupations across various sectors of the economy, including the informal sector.