The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Haruna Iddrisu has offered to meet with workers in a bid to avert a nationwide mass strike scheduled for Thursday, July 24.
Organised Labour, comprising various unions, congresses and associations, have said they would take to the streets to protest what they say is the high cost of living, rising food prices, the falling currency and hikes in utility prices.
The strike was announced at a press conference on Friday, July 18, by the Secretary General of the Teachers Union Congress Kofi Asamoah.
But Minister Idrissu has said he is prepared to dialogue with workers. He said: ” I am available. We can meet. Even this evening. Anywhere. We can engage with Labour”.
He added: “We solidarise with the issues raised by Labour but are “appealing to them, a sit down strike and a boycott is not the way to go.”
The Minister assured the workers that government is putting in place interventions to fix the economy. He said labour “ought to appreciate the constraints of the budget” adding, “government cannot immediately fix the grievances of labour.”
It appears however, that the Minister’s appeal will not be taken up. Justice Yankson, Deputy Secretary General of the Ghana Medical Association told Joy News that labour has “gotten to its maximum limit. The strike will not be called off today and will not be called off tomorrow.”
“The people of Ghana keep suffering” and the talk and dialogue which government is offering will not solve their problem,” he added.
The Secretary General of the Teachers Union Congress Kofi Asamoah asked all workers both in the formal and informal sectors, including media, to stay away from work and assemble at designated locations in Accra and other regional capitals to demonstrate.
The strike, if successful will ground the country to a halt and would have a huge effect on productivity.
Organisations that form Organised Labour include the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Industrial and Commercial-workers Union (ICU), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOSSAG), Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA).
Source: Myjoyonline
