PSWU urges government to implement agreement on ESB

Sunyani (B/A), July 12, GNA - Mr. Abraham Tetteh Dian Okine, General Secretary of Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged the government to keep faith with workers and make the industrial agreement on the new End-of-Service Benefit (ESB) signed almost a year ago workable.

He was addressing the opening of Brong-Ahafo Regional Delegates Congress of PSWU at Sunyani on Friday.

The two-day Congress will among other thing discuss and review the Union's activities in the region, measure its progress or otherwise and preparations being made towards the forthcoming regular delegates conference, draw up various programmes of activities and elect new regional officers.

Mr. Okine said in September last year, the National Tripartite Committee signed a communiqu=E9 on the re-introduction of ESB and that "even though in the spirit of free collective bargaining negotiations the necessary proposals had been submitted to some managements where the CBA was due for review, there was a hindrance somewhere for the next course of action to be taken.

The PSWU General Secretary urged the government, through the Ministry of Finance, to mandate the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to go ahead and negotiate for the new ESB.

"Our members are concerned that the negotiations on the issue have stalled and are therefore not taking things lightly."

Mr. Okine said the Union wanted to see more progress at the branch levels, not only on performance and activities, but also in the strengthening of roles played by branch officers. "We want to see well-organized branches with trained active branch officers to support the Union's organization and recruitment drive," he added.

"A good branch official is an asset not only to his or her branch, but also plays a supportive role to compliment that of the Regional Industrial Relations Officers (IROs) to help move the Unions forward". Mr. Okine announced that the National Secretariat of the Union had instituted awards to motivate hardworking branches. He stressed the importance of union meetings and denounced the lukewarm approach by some branches towards meetings. "We are becoming alarmed and concerned that some branches do not constitute a quorum at meetings yet they want us to recognize those meetings," he said and advised such branches to change.

Mr. Okine explained that a branch meeting "is an avenue for information sharing where most people take active part in the decision-making process", adding that strong branches would automatically translate into a strong regional council and a strong Union. The General Secretary urged organizers of branch meetings to invite all local officers to attend and try and investigate their absence. He assured the Congress that the current national officers were committed to an improvement in service delivery to members and expressed the hope that the branch officers, as the first line of leadership of the Union, would also be determined to chart a new frontier for the branch.

In a five-page report, Mr. John Oppong, Regional Principal Industrial Relations Officer (PIRO) of the Union said the union's strength in the region was 941 as recorded in a recent census. Out of the 13 District Councils of Labour (DCL) in the region, PSWU controls the affairs of 10 of them as its members either holding the position of a chairman, secretary or both.

Mr. Oppong said the Region had officially registered 701 members for the Labour Enterprise Trust (LET), adding that the number might even be higher because some establishments did not channel their forms through the Secretariat.

He, however, complained that members at the Centre for National Culture (CNC), Electoral Commission (EC) and a small section from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were yet to receive their certificates and called on the National Secretariat to assist in this direction. The Regional PIRO hinted that the lease covering the Union's 4.08 acre plot at Sunyani had finally been released by the Lands Commission and prayed the National Secretariat to implement the National Executive Council's earlier decision to fence the land with barbed wire to ward off encroachers.

The Congress later elected five new officers for the Regional Council with Mr. Kwasi Acheampong of Goaso in the Asunafo District as Chairman for a three-year term.

Mr. Samuel Mensah Nyarko, National Chairman of PSWU in swearing in the new Regional executives, which included two women, advised them to be conversant with the constitution of the union to be able to work effectively.

Mr. Horatius Quaye, Deputy General Secretary Mr. David Kudwor, Vice-Chairman, Mr. Daniel Arhin Sam, First National Trustee and Miss Alberta Anita Agyei, Second National Trustee accompanied Mr Okine. The team had already toured Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions and would continue to the Eastern, Volta, Western and Central regions.