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It would be suicidal to ignore PUWU demands – Labour Expert warns government

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Business News of Wednesday, 27 September 2017

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2017-09-27

Puwudemo WokersPUWU members of the ECG across the country on Tuesday wore red armbands to demand payment

Labour Expert, Ben Arthur, says severance package demands by public utility workers ahead of an upcoming privatisation of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is not justified, however, the government must not turn a deaf ear.

Mr Arthur says because the proposed privitisation under the Millennium Challenge Power Compact agreement has not happened and there is no imminent redundancy threat, pushing for payment of end of year benefits violates the law.

“As we are talking, technically, there has not been any redundancy so if workers are agitating the only thing they can ask for which will be justified for them is that ‘we want to have an agreement as to when and how when such a situation [layoff] arises we should deal with it’; that is the only avenue for the workers now,” Ben Arthur said on current affairs programme, PM Express, Tuesday.

He notes, however, that it is in the interest of the ECG workers to engage the government, their employer, for a collective bargaining deal where, “as part of their terms and conditions of service, they agree on when there is going to be a layoff, how the redundancy ought to be handled – if it will even be a case that will arise.”

PUWU members of the ECG across the country on Tuesday wore red armbands to demand payment of their take-home package before the Compact Agreement comes into force.

The ECG workers cite the case of the erstwhile Omni Bus Transport Company situation, where the workers migrated onto the Metrobus Company were paid a severance package, insisting they also deserve same.

Critics of the workers’ demand cite the position of the law regarding the payment of severance package under Section 65 of the Labour Act, insisting that their demands would have been justified if ECG was shutting down.

However, speaking on the current affairs programme on the Joy News channel on MultiTV, Mr Arthur said it is clear that the workers anticipate an amalgamation or a takeover that will result in redundancy or the diminishing of their terms and conditions of service.

On the score, the government must engage them, he said.

“It will be suicidal if the government does not to engage them,” he said.

The government, which owns majority shares, is even mandated by law to formally lay out the details of the privitisation deal before it happens, Mr Arthur said.

A formal meeting, Mr Arthur said, will calm the nerves of the workers and kick-start a sane process to solving possible redundancy-related issues.

“In fact without the workers preempting the employer [government], the employer must write to the Chief Labour Officer and say that this is what we are going to do and it must happen three months before the takeover. That is the position of the law,” he said.

He has adviced the worried workers to include demands to be retrained to fit into other sectors of the company to efforts to securing their jobs.

Under the new Millennium Challenge Power Compact agreement program, Ghana will receive a $469,300,000 with a new management.

The aim of the Ghana Power Compact is to create a financially viable power sector to meet the current and future needs of households and businesses, and to help fight poverty across the country.

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