Dr. Yaw Baah
Organised Labour has urged the government to protect workers’ Constitutional right to join any union of their choice.
According to the group, there is an ongoing violation of workers’ right to join or form trade unions by some employers.
General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Dr. Yaw Baah, speaking on behalf of Organised Labour at the commemoration of the 2023 Worker’s Day in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region, said some unscrupulous employers are victimizing workers for forming or joining union(s).
“Too many Ghanaian workers remain outside the coverage of collective agreements because of fear of victimization from their employers. This is the fate of many Ghanaians who are working for foreign companies across all sectors of the economy,” he said.
Dr. Baah said managers in these companies are deliberately frustrating the efforts of Ghanaian workers to exercise their constitutional right to join a union of their choice.
“Currently, we are dealing with a very strange case at Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Ltd. at Kpone where the Chinese managers in the company, with the support of their Ghanaian counterparts, have dismissed three trade union leaders for leading the unionization of workers in the company,” he stated.
The TUC Secretary General said the unionized workers are being intimated and threatened on daily basis to the extent that the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has had to intervene to help resolve the impasse between the union and management of Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Ltd.
“Efforts to unionize workers in other companies especially those in the telecom, banking and hotels and restaurant sectors are also being frustrated,” he said.
“Mr. President, we do not think our government should allow such a thing to happen in our country at this day and age. We expect government to do something about this urgently,” he urged.
Dr. Baah further called for the revamping of some dying state institutions and government projects including the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Saglame Housing Project.
“We cannot allow that project to go waste when many workers who are contributing so much to Ghana’s development cannot have places to lay their heads,” he said. We believe that government has the capacity to revamp TOR. We are appealing to you to use your good offices to change the fortunes of TOR.”
The 2023 May Day celebration was on the theme, “‘Protecting Incomes and Pensions in an Era of Economic Crises: Our Responsibility’.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri