Business News of Sunday, 17 September 2017
Source: citibusinessnews.com
2017-09-17
Network has begun talks with the Ministry of Labor aimed at addressing challenges
The African Trade Union Migration Network(ATUMN) is seeking to address recruitment practices that undermine the rights of immigrants in various African countries.
This follows horrible experiences by some domestic workers in the hands of recruitment agencies and their host employers.
According to the Network, African governments must endeavor to work towards entering bilateral labor migration agreements with host countries as a way of protecting the rights of immigrants.
In an interview with Citi Business News, Coordinator Human and Trade Union Rights, Joel Akhator Odigie said the Network has begun talks with the Ministry of Labor aimed at addressing such challenges.
“When you talk about migration you now have the ministries of interior affairs, leading the cause in the change when it is essentially a labor issue,” he said.
He stated that the various unions representing different African countries met in Accra to discuss the way forward on how best to address the issue faced by their citizens on employment in different African countries.
“Ninety percent or eighty percent of migration is driven by work , so the Ministry of Labor should not be a corridor ministry , the ministry of labor should be at the forefront,” he said.
“We are therefore in talks with the Ministry of Labor at different levels , and we have decided that we will go back to our countries to try to get the needed support for the Ministry of Labor to play its role while, of course we are not discounting our security issues” he stressed.
