Government has stated categorically that it will not fear to put striking labour unions in their right place, especially when it believes they are wrong in their latest decision to declare an indefinite strike.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, the Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine admitted that though there are consequences associated with taking the various groups on, government will still go ahead with its decision to drag the unions to court.
“There is nothing wrong with having a collision with labour. When labour believes government is wrong they don’t back down so I don’t see anything wrong with having a collision with labour but we have to be fair to ourselves that organized labour can also go wrong from time to time,” Dr. Ayine added.
“As a government we cannot damn the consequences of taking them on. We are keenly aware of the consequence and we will be taking measures to address those consequences as events unfold,” he insisted.
[contextly_sidebar id=”qJBfLx9bPlwsX3RYIknpIrQQkODLPFjE”]Twelve labour unions are on an indefinite strike to protest government’s failure to pay public service workers, their tier two pension funds into a private account.
Though the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu earlier kicked against the decision, describing it as unnecessary and unlawful, the strike was fully implemented by some labour groups.
Dr. Ayine also dismissed claims that the groups were unaware that their pension funds were intact and safe, saying “labour has representation on the NPRA board so it is not actually true that they are unaware of the temporary pension fund.”
He said the opposition from the various labour groups is because they want to manage the scheme themselves.
“What the workers are clamouring for is for them to be able to manage the schemes themselves but this is an employer sponsored scheme and not an employee sponsored scheme so how can we have employees sponsoring the scheme instead of the employer.”
Mr. Ayine said government will take a decision after the court has given its final ruling on the matter.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana