A labour analyst, Francis Kofi Davor has insisted that the new law being proposed by government to regulate the duration of strike actions in the country is not necessary.
According to him, government must discard such attempts since the Labour Law is clear on the regulation of strikes.
Seven days notice given before strike
[contextly_sidebar id=”ZNUl9XojEudhwtLcHYEu9aJ7oTTU3ta7″]He explained that, the law stipulates that employees must give seven days notice to their employers before embarking on industrial strikes.
“When you finally embark on a strike, section 162 says if the dispute remains unresolved within seven days from the commencement of the strike or lockout the dispute shall be settled by compulsory arbitration under section 164. So clearly after seven days the National Labour Commission or the concerned state institution can intervene and say that parties should hold on and come to the table to get the matter resolved,” he added.
New law is to check productivity
Kofi Davor’s comment follows the proposal made by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu on Wednesday on the Floor of Parliament that government intends to pass a law to limit the duration of strike actions.
“I will think that in future Parliament should support us to legislate that you may not be on strike action beyond 72 hours but you can for purposes of driving home your demand withdraw your services. Within 48 to 72 hours, it’s important that you return to work because it affects productivity,” he added.
Haruna Iddrisu expressed that the new law will not seek to “outlaw strikes” but to ensure that productivity is not affected during such times.
But Kofi Davor thinks otherwise.
Strengthen dispute mechanisms
To him, passing a new law will not solve the issue because “the problem we have had is the problem of not attending to disputes and ensuring that the issues are dealt with.”
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, the labour analyst who was also the former General Secretary of the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers (UNICOF) said “we must strengthen our institutions and our capacity to resolve the dispute and not another legislation to restrict the number of days that workers can embark on a strike.”
“My simple view is that the minister just wants a shortcut to a concern that he or the government had. I would have wished that he is proposing the strengthening of our dispute resolution mechanisms to ensure that disputes are resolved as quickly as possible.”
Tier two brouhaha
It is believed that government’s intention to pass the new law follows the tango between government and twelve labour unions over the latter’s tier two pensions funds.
While the labour union insists that they must be allowed to manage the tier two pension fund, government thinks otherwise.
Government and the twelve labour unions are currently in court over the matter because several attempts to resolve the issue amicably had proved futile.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana