The Industrial and Commercial court in Accra has placed an injunction on the 12 labour unions demanding their tier two pension funds, restraining them from embarking on any future strikes.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s ruling means the unions cannot take any further action until the case before the court is finally determined.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”JAnHgxzIjnsenC0C07FjzY1fcuTlhspm”]Speaking to journalists after the ruling , counsel for the Labour Unions, Godfred Dame said they will appeal against the ruling.<\/p>\n
“There are two procedures that we can resort to, we can file an application for a certiorari which is of course within very strict and limited circumstances or we can just file the ordinary process of an appeal to the court of appeal.”<\/p>\n
“…The labour act recognises the right of workers to go on strike. The thing is that there can be lawful strike…so it is the case that we cannot embark on a lawful strike?Even if there is a recourse to the labour Act, labour unions cannot go on strike, I think that is very reactionary”<\/p>\n
On Wednesday,22 October, 2014 various labour unions embarked on an indefinite strike<\/a><\/span><\/strong> to protest the delay in the release of their tier two pensions into a private account.<\/p>\n They were also challenging\u00a0the Ministry of Finance\u2019s decision to use Pension Alliance Trust<\/strong><\/span><\/a> as a sole trustee of the second tier pension schemes for all employees on government payroll.<\/p>\n Though the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu earlier kicked against the decision<\/strong><\/span><\/a> by labour unions to strike, describing it as unnecessary and unlawful, the strike was\u00a0fully implemented by some labour groups.<\/p>\n Government subsequently \u00a0sued the labour unions<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, praying the court to among others,rule on the rightful trustee responsible for managing the tier two pension\u2019s funds of public workers.<\/p>\n According to Citi FM’s<\/strong> Umaru Sanda Amadu who was in court today, the ruling “restrains labour unions from embarking on any future strikes relating to the tier two pension funds which they went to Court for.”<\/p>\n Government also requested that the court awards damages against the unions \u00a0for its losses during the period they went on strike.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Marian Efe Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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