Trade Unions, Stakeholders debate new Labour Law

The National Labour Commission in association with the Trade Union Congress and government on Wednesday organised an orientation seminar on unionisation and collective bargaining agreement for stakeholders in the labour industry.

The event focused on how workers should be unionised, which group of workers should be accepted to unionise, and whether unionisation should be done after registration with the labour commission or after the acquisition of the collective bargaining certificate.

Addressing the issues, Bernice Welbeck, acting Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission disclosed that 90 percent of the disputes reported at the Commission related to the issue of freedom of association and collective bargaining.

She indicated that some issues that resulted in the industrial disputes or agitations included the role of a worker in the area of decision making, whether all managers should hold positions of trust or should be classified as policy makers and the issue of confidential duty and what it means to stakeholders.

Opanyin Obeng Fosu, member of the NLC and a policy maker in a submission said freedom of association is an aspect of workers' rights which form part of the range of fundamental liberties enshrined in the Constitution, noting that the labour Act indicates that two or more employees from the same enterprise can either form a trade union or join any on their own volition.

The law however prevents policy makers and holders of positions of trust in the labour industry from joining or forming trade unions, while emphasising that membership of a trade union is voluntary and not compulsory.

Opanyin Fosu called on trade unions to try and persuade workers outside their work premises in order not to create conflict of interest. Workers afterward should be made to film membership forms in their own handwritings to secure their commitment before they could apply for bargaining certificate.

He said workers had the freedom to form associations alongside their existing associations under the new labour law and also had the freedom to withdraw from their associations on their own volition. According to him, Section 83 of the labour law allows any trade union registered under Section 83 to be issued with a certificate.

Kwasi Danso Acheampong, Vice Chairperson of NLC called on trade unions to harmonise and build consensus with corporate managers, stakeholders and government to create sanity in the labour front.

The Statesman : Business : Trade Unions, Stakeholders debate new Labour Law