Court grants stay of proceedings in NLC suit against CEPS

Accra, Sept. 4, GNA - An Accra Fast Track High Court on Tuesday granted an application for the stay of proceedings pending the determination of the matter between the management of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and National Labour Commission (NLC) at the Supreme Court.

The court, presided over by Mrs. Justice Irismay Brown explained that the essence of the application was for the Supreme Court to declare whether CEPS could be exempted from the Labour Act. It said though there was no ambiguity or any contraction in the enactment, it was for public interest and order that the court had to subject itself to scrutiny by referring the matter to the Supreme Court for interpretation.

Management of CEPS took the matter to the Supreme Court for interpretation of a portion of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) which gave the workers the mandate to form or belong to a union, which it said, was not consistent with the 1992 Constitution. CEPS contends that Section one of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) applies to all workers and all employers except the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Police and Prison Service, and the Security and Intelligence Agencies specified under the Security and Intelligence Agency Act 1996 (Act 526).

The NLC had earlier taken CEPS to the Fast Track High Court to compel the Service to commence negotiations with the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress on the issue of unionisation. CEPS in turn filed an application challenging the jurisdiction of the Fast Track High Court. CEPS was seeking a declaration that the portion of the Labour Act, which covered CEPS was "inconsistent or in contravention of Article 24 (4) of the Constitution". It was therefore seeking restrictions prescribed by law and reasonably necessary in the interest of national security or public order that required CEPS be excluded from the application of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651).