MayDay - Bolgatanga

Mr. Boniface Gambila, Upper East Regional Minister, on Tuesday appealed to Labour Unions to use dialogue and negotiations in seeking redress to their demands instead of embarking on sit down strikes. He made the appeal when he read President John Agyekum Kufuor's May Day speech for this year in Bolgatanga.

The Regional Minister asked Labour Unions to re-examine the lost hours and the decrease in productivity during industrial actions and resist the tendency to lay down their tools each time they encounter problems at the workplace.

"Many people lost their lives during the past industrial actions embarked upon by health workers. Accademic performances of children were also affected as a result of the sit down strike by teachers last year", he added.

The Regional Minister mentioned some of the achievements chalked by the present Government, citing the introduction of the Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Metro Mass Transport System and the National Youth Employment Programe (NYEP).

Mr. Gambila noted that all those policies were initiated by the Government to ease the burden of workers and enable them to save some part of their income. He urged workers to do away with, "there is no money in the pocket" syndrome.

He stated that the Government was working tirelessly to find a lasting solution to the country's energy crisis.

, Mr. Richard Asueme, Acting Regional Chairman of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), read the Speech of the Secretary-General of the TUC. He recalled the role played by workers in the politico-socio-economic advancement of the nation in the pre and post-independence eras, and appealed to the Government to act swiftly on the implementation of the Living Wage policy to address the disparity in workers' salaries. He said the Living Wage concept would help address the poverty levels of workers and also motivate and encourage them to increase productivity.

There were solidarity messages from the Civil Servants Association and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) whose main theme focused on the need for Government to improve the conditions of service of workers.

Awards including Television sets and Certificates were presented to hard working and deserving staff of the various workers unions. Earlier on the workers embarked on a march around the principal streets of the Bolgatanga Municipality, singing and dancing to brass band music.

They bore placards some of which read, "Essential Service Deserves Essential Conditions of Service, Our Take Home is not Enough, Revamp the Vea and the Tono Irrigation Projects, School Feeding Programme Patronise Icour Milled Rice, John Agyekum Kufuor Release TUC from Captivity, Cotton Farmers Need Government Support, and Mr. President the time for PSI on Cotton is Now."