The National Labour Commission (NLC) is proposing a review of the Labour Act to include the appointment of permanent Commissioners for the speedy resolution of labour disputes.
Mr Ofosu Asamoah, Executive Secretary of the NLC, said the current law, which provides for seven part-time Commissioners, was obsolete and impeding the work of the Commission.
He said the provision was one of the challenges making it impossible for the NLC to resolve the 80 to 120 labour disputes recorded monthly.
The labour disputes, he noted were mostly non-payment of salaries, unfair labour practices and termination, among others.
Speaking at a workshop on labour dispute resolution and settlement in Accra yesterday, he added that, the Commission was presently able to resolve about 40 of the cases received monthly.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) to educate members on disputes resolution and settlement in the wake of an upsurge in labour disputes following the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The Commission is overwhelmed with a number of cases bordering on labour disputes. Unfortunately, the Commissioners are engaged on a part-time basis.
They are likely to attend to their personal businesses before finding time to sit on the cases before it. These ultimately result in delays in the delivery of justice,” Mr Asamoah stated.
More worrying for the NLC, he said, was the lack of offices for the Commissioners and access to library facilities for their use.
He explained that the situation had been compounded by the absence of regional offices to hear labour dispute cases, saying that so far, only Tema, Takoradi and Kumasi have offices in addition to Accra.
This, he indicated, had resulted in a significant number of backlog of cases yet to be determined.
Mr Asamoah said attempts to get the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to make office provision for the NLC in their jurisdiction had not yielded the desired results.
Another concern fueling unresolved labour disputes, the Executive Secretary noted, was fees paid by interested parties for the services of mediators and arbitrators, who were, in some situations, required in the resolution process.
“If litigators are unable to pay the fees required for the services of mediators and arbitrators, the resolution process is disrupted,” he said.
He, therefore, urged the government to absorb the fees to free litigators of the burden.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
