PUWU wants end to harassment, violence at the workplace

The General Secretary of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), Mr. Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi has admonished institutional heads to implement the International Labour Organisations (ILO) Convention 190 that addresses violence and harassment at the workplace.

Implementation of the Convention should be with dispatch, he said.

Mr. Adumatta Nyantakyi who made the call while delivering the key note address at the 12th Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference of PUWU held at the PUWU Hospitality and Conference Centre at Kasoa in the Central Region on the theme, “Repositioning the union in the face of emerging challenges in the world of work”, said the ILO Convention 190 outlaws “violence and harassment in the world of work” and it must not be tolerated.

According to him, implementation of the convention at the workplace will provide a safer working environment for all, especially women to fully participate in all activities at the workplace.

Mr. Nyantakyi said all forms of harassment and violence at the workplace cannot be allowed to persist and should be eradicated.

He further urged the various trade unions in the country to develop strategies to help fight the privatization of public service institutions.

“There is enough evidence across the world and even in our country to support the assertion that public sector institutions keep shrinking in size and scope. This is due to the upsurge in the orientation that the state should not be directly controlling public service institutions. The growing notion that it is not the business of government to be directly undertaking business activities has fueled the trend towards privatization of public service institutions, with its attendant reduction in employment”, he said.

Mr. Adumatta Nyantakyi stated that the union needs to develop strategies to combat the threat of privatization which have manifested in the form of management contracts that hit the Ghana Water Company Limited and recently the concession that affected ECG.

Making an appeal to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr. Adumatta Nyantakyi said, “On behalf of our union and by our interest in the ILO Convention 190, we want to plead that you will use your good offices to ensure that Ghana becomes one of the nations that ratifies this convention as urgent as possible; and I am sure this will go a long way to help us address the issue of harassment at the workplace and also ensure that our women will be able to come out and fully participate. This is a personal appeal and I hope you will carry this forward”.