According to the Minister of Employment and Labour relations, the process to ensure the transfer of the monies into the registered schemes of the workers have started.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Aa4FZYTQrrlsrqn5PtvZTIhxL449wRNN”]His comment was in reaction to threats from twelve labor unions to embark on a strike over the transfer of their monies which has been in arrears since 2010.

The labor unions gave government up to Wednesday, November 16 to commence the transfer process but according to the Minister, the government is committed to ensuring that their concerns were addressed to maintain the sanity of the labor front as soon as possible

Haruna Iddrisu, in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, said, “Government has transferred the money to the National Pensions Regulations authority. The bone of contention is whether we should transfer it to the custodian bank or the controller and accountant general. The workers, pursuant to the law and per the provisions of the law of the second tier insist that it must be a direct transfer from the controller and account general. I do pray and hope that we get through with the other party of it today, which is about reimbursement.”

He added that government taking measures to ensure that monies kept in the pensions’ account at the Bank of Ghana were properly accounted for and interests accruing on it.

“I ask them to keep the industrial peace and harmony of the country and to keep the sanity of the labor environment to ensure that there is a peaceful industrial atmosphere before, during and after the elections but trust that every commitment we have made in the roadmap will be honored by government,” he said.

Background

A meeting between the various labor unions including the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) on Tuesday, November 15 on the matter ended inconclusively with the Unions threatening a strike.

The Chairman of the Forum of Public Sector Labour Unions and Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Dr Isaac Bampoe told Citi News in an earlier interview that “our demand was that the second tier should be transferred to our custodian banks but as we speak now, nothing has been done…If it is transferred tomorrow then we do not have a problem but if not then we will have a meeting on the 16th to decide the way forward.”

He added that, “The communique that was issued was very clear that if by 16th nothing happens then we are going to lay down our tools. What we are saying is that the money should be transferred to our custodian banks. We started this fight two years ago.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

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