TUC calls for regional labour commission offices

Accra, May 1, GNA - Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Acting Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Thursday called on the Government to provide the National Labour Commission with adequate resources to perform its statutory functions. He said the current situation, where the Commission operated from only the headquarters in Accra, in respect of settlement of labour disputes nationwide and with inadequate staff and facilities could make it all, but a dead entity.

"We call on government, as a matter of urgency to provide adequate resources for the establishment of regional committees of the commission in all the regions," he said.

As a first step, sectoral offices could be established in Kumasi to take care of cases in Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions and another in Tamale for cases in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions. Touching on employment security, Mr. Asamoah said the decision of the Accra Fast Track High Court to the effect that employers could terminate the appointment of employees without given any reason had the effect to undermine the compromise and consensus reached in the various tripartite consultations and deliberations leading to the passage of the Labour Act.

He said the avowed intention of the tripartite stakeholders was for a new labour law that promoted peaceful and harmonious industrial relations to the collective benefit of the three stakeholders. "It is the view of organized labour that the Labour Act (Act 651) sought to do away with the harsh and arbitrary outcome of the old common law principle by making elaborate provisions for fair and unfair termination of employment of their employees," Mr. Asamoah said. He said the judgment of the High Court was provoking agitation and unrest among workers and unionists and there was the need for the social partners to have a second look at those provisions of the Labour Act, which suffer from degree of ambiguity and tension. Mr. Asamoah called on the government to ratify ILO Convention 158 without delay so as to promote the healthy industrial relations climate that the Labour Act sought to establish.