The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) has called for the urgent passage of the reviewed Labour Act into law.
It said the law had outlived its usefulness and there was the need for a new one to meet current needs.
The Secretary General of the GWMU, Abdul- Moomin Gbana, made the call at the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) National Executive Council second half year meeting in Accra on Tuesday.
The forum considered issues on the labour front, development in the country and election 2024.
Mr Gbana said the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, must ensure the reviewed Labour Act was passed before he left office.
Over the past decade, he noted, a considerable reduction in quality employment opportunities, not only within the mining industry but across the broader Ghanaian economy.
This decline, he said, was primarily attributed to a notable transition in the employment landscape, moving from traditional or permanent positions to various non-standard employment arrangements, such as temporary roles, casual work, and fixed-term contracts.
He indicated that the vulnerability of employment was exacerbated by indiscriminate outsourcing and the fragmentation of production, resulting in an unprecedented impact on Ghanaian workers
“Indeed, as a result of this significant shift, workers now have lower levels of employment protection, high degrees of uncertainty and face higher risks in respect of workplace accidents or injuries. There have been a surge in workers and trade union rights violations, a shrinking collective bargaining coverage, job insecurity, threatening social protection cover, and fluctuations in income and pensions,” he explained.
Additionally, Mr Gbana averred it was against that backdrop that the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union staged a spirited campaign over the past five years, calling the government’s attention to the urgent need to review the current Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) to deal comprehensively with the implementational gaps and challenges to make it responsive to the changing needs of the actors in the industrial relations space.
He said GMWU was aware of the work which had been done to review the Labour Act.
On the issue of election and Illicit Financial Flows, Mr Gbana said “one critical area that continued to make nonsense of all our efforts as trade unions and as a country is corruption.”
He said trade unions in Ghana including the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union had shied away from the fight against corruption and corruption related offences.
“In fact, given the spate of corruption and aborted corruption scandals since the fourth republic, and the extent of notoriety it has gained in recent years and the debilitating impact on the Ghanaian society and by extension the continent of Africa, brings into sharp focus the urgent need to confront this deadly cancer ravaging our country and continent head-on,” Mr Gbana stated.
Moreover, he said the African Union estimated that 25 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, equivalent $148 billion, was lost to corruption every year on the continent.
In Ghana, Mr Gbana noted that IMANI Ghana estimated that the country lost $3 billion to corruption every year, the same amount Ghana was currently seeking from the International Monetary Fund.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
