Current SSNIT law is anti-workers - TUC Chief

Cape Coast, Dec 8, GNA - The Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, on Monday called for a change of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) law to remove the trust from government control.

He also called for a reduction in the membership of the SSNIT board from 14 to 11 and that the eight government representatives on it should be reduced to four to "purge it of excessive government presence and interference."

Mr Adu-Amankwah said this when he met the executives of the Cape Coast District Council of Labour at Cape Coast to discuss the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the SSNIT law.

He said although SSNIT should have the force of government legislation behind it, as a first tier national pension scheme, the "over-bearing" presence of government must be removed from its operations.

Mr Adu-Amankwah said many of the shortcomings and weaknesses of the trust stem from the structure of the law establishing it, how it is being implemented and its current objectives are not explicit and are sometimes "contradictory and indistinct".

Touching on the NHIS, he said the Insurance Act 650 failed to address organised labour's fears and concerns raised in a submission to parliament in August.

He said the Act discriminates against workers in the freedom of choice of a pension scheme since the compulsory appropriation of the 2.5 per cent of the 17.5 per cent deduction of workers SSNIT contributions under section 34 of the Act seeks to tie membership of workers automatically to the district mutual health insurance schemes.

He said the law works against workers because under the existing workplace Medicare scheme some employers provide coverage for employees and their dependants.

But under the NHIS the 2.5 per cent deduction from SSNIT would cover only the worker or the contributor and that workers will have to pay additional premium to cover their dependents.

The TUC boss said the union intends to continue its campaign for a sustainable, equitable and quality national health insurance as well as for the transformation of the SSNIT.

During an open forum some of the members suggested that monies from the MP's fund and the HPIC fund should rather be used for the scheme.