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TUC proposes a Labour Bank to safeguard workers welfare

By
Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA

Accra, Dec. 2, GNA –
The Trades Union Congress, Ghana has at a publicĀ  forum on the 2020 Budget, proposed the
establishment of a Labour Bank to support Ghanaian workers to secure decent
housing, soft loans and safeguard their welfare.

The Bank, upon
establishment, would utilize the experienced retirees in its operations so that
the nation would tap into their experiences and offer loans to workers on
concessionary rates.

Dr Anthony Yaw Baah,
the Secretary-General of TUC, giving further explanation to the proposal, said
the TUC is still undertaking feasibility studies and has already dispatched two
persons to Japan to understudy how that country implemented its Labour Bank model.

He said the TUC
would have further engagements with the Japanese Mission, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Regional Integration and Finance Ministry, as well as the Ghana
Employers Association (GEA) and the Association of Ghana Industry (AGI) towards
the operalisation of the Bank.

Currently, there is
a Labour Bank in Ghana providing loans and other welfare services for personnel
of the Ghana Armed Forces.

The forum was
jointly organised by the TUC, GEA and AGI, to dispassionately discuss the 2020
Budget Statement and Economic Policy Statement and come out with a bipartite
position and engage government so that their concerns would be factored into
the budget implementation.

The partners would
then meet Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, early next year at the
Social Partnership Council platform to make known their concerns.

Mrs Mary Karimu,
Deputy Director of Labour Research and Policy Institute of the TUC, while
making a presentation on TUCā€™s observations on the Budget Statement, commended
government for the proposal to establish a National Development Bank and the
decision not to roll out new taxes.

As much as it
appreciated the stabilization of the macroeconomic indicators with the
year-on-year inflation declining from 15.4 per cent in 2016 to 7.7 as of
October, the TUC was of the opinion that, the increase in fuel prices and
utility tariffs had eroded the gains, therefore majority of Ghanaians were not
experiencing the impact on their lives.

The Union also
expressed disquiet over the high lending rate which was stifling businesses and
urged government to find innovative ways to reduce it to the barest minimum.

It cited, an
instance, where government directed the Consolidated Banks to charge only 11.6
per cent interest rate on loans, insisting that it was possible to bring down
the interest rate from the current figure of 25 per cent to a single digit like
what pertains in Cote dā€™Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

The TUC expressed
concerns about the over-liberlised trade policy allowing dumping of cheap
foreign products on the local markets and thus, called for controlled measures
to protect the local industries,

More so, the Union
said the 50 per cent reduction of the Benchmark Values had not resulted in
reduction of prices for goods and services, but rather benefited importers at
the detriment of the general populace.

It urged government
to re-examine the tax exemption regime for multinational companies operating in
the country and requested that more stakeholder consultation is needed for the
new Tax Exemption Policy Draft Document to make it more holistic and relevant.

The TUC disagreed
with governmentā€™s decision to export specialised nurses to Barbados and other
foreign countries and asked whether the nation had surplus nurses that
warranted the export.

It said the export
of nurses would be useful if only there are nurses in every health facility
across the country, arguing that, currently not every village or hamlet has
nurses to provide efficient healthcare services.

GNA

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