A labour economist, Dr. William Baah-Boateng has dismissed assertions that organized labour has inflated the number of workers likely to be laid off by close of 2015.<\/p>\n
He argued that there are other avenues through which labour could force the government to resolve the three-year energy crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is not the time to inflate figures. They have other options to compel government or put pressure on government\u2026so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an inflated figure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Labour Unions have projected that by close of 2015, about 50,000 workers would have lost their jobs if the power crisis is not permanently fixed.<\/p>\n
It also disclosed that in the first quarter of 2015, about 13,000 workers were laid off.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Some have challenged these figures being churned out by labour, insisting that they are inflated figures aimed at threatening the government to resolve the problem.<\/p>\n The President, John Mahama in his May Day address last week said although the power crisis is affecting companies, smart businesses are not laying off workers<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>but are rather finding innovative ways to stay in business.<\/p>\n Dr. Baah-Boateng even so maintained labour is not using the 50,000 as a threat.<\/p>\n He explained that although the problem has persisted for three years, \u201clabour has been very accommodative to government\u2026labour has been able to stay calm for three years and given government more time to solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been in this problem for over three years and no firm can stay in this for a long time,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n According to him, the about 600,000 public sector workers have been unionized and one of the benefits of these unions is to collate figures therefore, the 50,000 projected figure is possible<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t done any kind of research buy I think since the problem has been with us for the past three years; I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if it gets to 50,000,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Dr. Baah-Boateng observed that if the informal sector is roped in, the numbers may be more 50,000.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026They [Labour] are not even looking at those in the informal sector where it\u2019s not individuals losing their jobs but the number of hours there are supposed to work has been slashed. That is a job cut in its sense but not a job cut as in human beings being laid so it\u2019s realistic from where I sit because I\u2019m sure enterprises have been able to endure this for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t looked at some of us who are teaching in the universities because sometimes, you get so frustrated that you have to call off classes and you don\u2019t even know when to reschedule the class,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The labour economist warned that if by the end of the year; enterprises are still not receiving constant power supply, \u201cI think the country will suffer a lot. I think we cannot afford to go beyond December and if we go beyond December, I think it\u2019s effects will be enormous.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @osamidan<\/a>
\n