ECG staff sues Government over redundancy negotiations

Electricity City of Ghana (ECG) workers are in court to challenge moves to release the operations of the company to a private individual without any payment.

The workers numbering one thousand and one (1,001) are calling on the Labour Division of the High Court to state that sending them, the plaintiff on a permanent transfer comprises severance.

A leader of the ECG workers as well as first plaintiff, Mr Benedict Kanose, Public Utilities Worker Union (PUWU), the second plaintiff of ECG and defendants, Attorney General and the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) .

According to the ECG workers, the decision by the Minister of Energy to conduct redundancy negotiation with them is unlawful and constitutes a gross violation of section 65 of the Labour Act.

The section of the Labour Act requires that negotiation redundancy pay must be conducted between the employer and the workers union, among other provisions, and also constitutes unlawful interference with trade union activities.

The plaintiff are calling upon the court to hand an order to the defendants to comply with the provisions of the Labour Act, go through the proper redundancy process as documented in the country’s law and pay the plaintiff severance package in line with the laws and the collective agreement with the ECG staff and the company.

Also, the workers of the ECG are seeking an order from the court that will prevent the defendants’ assigns and privies from going on with the compact agreement between the Akufo-Addo government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on August 5, 2014 for the reform of the electricity distribution sector of Ghana by naming a private investor to take over the power distribution company.