A Deputy Minister for Transport has requested Ghana’s Labour Unions to rescind their decision to march to the Black Star Square from the Obra Spot on May 1.
Titus Glover explained that, notwithstanding the fact that the government could not stop any group from going on a peaceful march for genuine reasons, President Akufo Addo’s NPP government has remained more committed and accessible to the labour unions than the previous government.
According to the labour unions, their members would converge at the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, where they would stage a peaceful walk, displaying some placards as they matched through some principal streets of the national capital to the Black Star Square, where President Akufo-Addo would address them.
This new phenomenon, the leadership of the workers’ unions explained, was to bring to the fore some of their observations in their lives and country.
“It is going to be a very peaceful march and we want all the union members to be in time so that nobody misses out on this novelty,” Joshua Ansah, Deputy General Secretary of TUC, announced in Tema, where the area’s District Council of Labour held its 2019 symposium ahead of the May Day celebration.
The symposium was tied to this year’s May Day celebration to be held on the theme: ‘Sustainable Pensions For All; The Role Of Social Partners’, and it had in attendance, Ebenezer Kodwo Taylor, Chairman of the Tema District Council of Labour, Felix Nii Mensah Annan-La, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Emmanuel Awuku Dagbanu, Education and Training Manager at the NPRA, and Wireku Brobbey, a Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations.
After the announcement by Joshua Ansah, Titus Glover, taking his turn to address the participants, said in a low voice: “We (government) have not offended you. I do not think the government of President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has offended the workers’ unions in Ghana to be treated the way you are going to do on 1st May.”
Contributing to the matter, Wireku Brobbey, Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, explained that the respect this government and the sector Ministry have accorded labour unions is “record high and extra-ordinary.
“We have always done our best to address your grievances tabled before us within 48 hours, thus, the reason we have not experienced agitations at the labour front as we used to in the past.”
He said by dint of the cordial relationship between the two bodies, the perception by some section of the public was that the labour unions were in bed with the government.
“Your leadership is aware of all these but, since you said the march will be peaceful and not one that would spell doom for the government, please let it be so,” Mr Brobbey said.
Earlier, Emmanuel Awuku Dagbanu, Education and Training Manager at the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), schooled participants on the importance of pension benefits and the need for contributors to, among other things, regularly check their contributions, be familiar with the work of trustees and update their records and check statements to avoid gaps.
Lastly, he advised workers to take advantage of personal pension schemes, in addition to their SSNIT contributions to avoid “historical crime to themselves and children.”
Story by Umar Sheriff / awakenewsonline.com