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TUC wants
regional labour commission offices
Accra, May 1, Ghanadot/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.
GNA
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