Labour in crunch meeting with Mahama's technical team members

Organised Labour is holding a crunch meeting with leaders of the technical team constituted by President John Mahama to assess the impact of the recent utility price hikes and make recommendations.

Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Kofi Asamoah says the meeting is to seek clarification from the technical team on some of the recommendations made.

The technical team presented its report to government last week and among other things, recommended that an over sixty per cent hike in utility prices will affect industries and labour.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced a 52% and 78.9% increase in water and electricity tariffs respectively which took effect from October 1.

The hikes left many workers angry, with the Labour Unions threatening to go on the streets if nothing was done about it.

The TUC gave a two week ultimatum for government to review the hikes, or risk industrial action. It however relaxed its position following an appeal by President John Mahama who encouraged the aggrieved workers to wait for the report of the technical team.

Within two weeks the technical team presented its report to the president cautioning against the combined 130 per cent hikes in utility prices.

Kofi Asamoah told Citi News, Labour still needs some clarification on the recommendations before it can take a decision on the next line of action against government.

Workers have begun, wearing red arm bands and hoisting red flags in a subtle protest against the hikes and are waiting for direction as to what to do next.