Accra, Jan. 7, GNA - Mr Joseph Aryitey, Chairman of the National Labour Commission (NLC) on Sunday asked Employers and Organised Labour to bring pressure to bear on the Minister of Employment and Manpower Development to pass the Minister's Regulation, and make the Fair Wages Council work.
He called on Parliament to raise the issue of the Minister's Regulation, followed by a national discussion since the three years' period for which the Regulation should be made to work after the passage of the Labour Act, Act 651, had already elapsed.
Mr Aryitey made the suggestion during a discussion on "emerging issues in industrial relations in Ghana since 1957," at the 58th Annual New Year School, underway at the University of Ghana, Legon.
"The Minister's Regulations on Collective Bargaining; Unionization; Private Employment Centres and Fees for Licences; Sympathy Strikes; Performance of National Tripartite Committee and Incentives for Employers of Persons with Disability should come out after three years after Act 651 was passed.
"Let someone raise it in Parliament for the Labour Ministry to wake up and let the Press discuss it," Mr Aryitey said, at the annual one-week extra mural School, organized by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) of the University of Ghana.
The School, which is attracting participants from a cross-section of Ghanaians from among Academia; Politicians; Trade Unions and District Assemblies, is examining Ghana's political, economic and political performance, after 50 years of independence, on the broad theme: "Ghana at 50, Achievements, Challenges and the Future."
Mr Aryitey noted a high incidence of strikes since independence in almost every Government.
He said the Labour Act brought great hopes of a harmonious industrial relations atmosphere, but no sooner had it been passed that strikes surfaced again.
He called for transparency on the part of the parties to any dispute coupled with good industrial relations practices in the workplace as well as a peer review mechanism and the avoidance of ad hoc practices for the settling of disputes.
Mr Aryitey said for good industrial relations, the formation of a workers' party must be encouraged, arguing that they would sufficiently appreciate the economy within the global market. "We must educate all on good governance and democratic principles; including respect for law and order in all aspects of Ghana's activities, including industrial relations, "Mr Aryitey said, and advised politicians to strive to improve the lives of everybody and avoid ostentatious lifestyles.
Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), said disputes on wages or benefits constituted the highest causes of strikes in Ghana; with other causes being solidarity and working condition; and other issues such as provocative utterances from management; victimization of union executives; and casual workers taking a long time, some for over 10 years to be made permanent workers. He said over the past 50 years, some issues that could be considered emerging in industrial relations were the need to insist on the application of the Labour Law and respect for it; the need to strengthen the National Tripartite Committee and institutionalisation of trade union and industrial relations education, which in turn would call for Workers Education and Training Fund.
There is also the need to meet the challenge of organizational renewal that made the labour movement more responsive to the needs of its membership Mrs Rose Karikari Annang, Executive Director of the Ghana Employers Association, underscored the need to identify areas of common and conflicting interests and to establish dialogue on the conflicting ones. She said the development of workers skills and their growing indispensability to enterprise competitiveness were instances where interests of employers and employees could converge.
Mrs Annang called for the examination of the role of the Labour Department in its role of labour inspection and the collection of employment data for labour market analysis, adding that registration and certification of trade unions would need a microscopic examination and certification of trade unions to ensure that it facilitated industrial peace.
Mr Christian Appiah-Agyei, former Secretary General of the GTUC, asked the organizers to include a government representative in such discussions the next time around. 7 Jan. 07
