Let’s have industrial harmony

The labour scene is boiling again and creating challenges for industrial harmony.This time round, labour is not asking for increases in salaries but a reduction in taxes to ease the economic burden on the people.

Towards the end of 2015, the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) slapped more than 50 per cent increases on electricity and water tariffs, to the displeasure of consumers.

As if that was not enough, and to say goodbye to 2015, the government got Parliament to pass the Energy Sector Levies Act that has cost implications for many services provided by the state .

And as is to be expected, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) raised the prices of petroleum products  by about 25 per cent about a fortnight ago.

Also, any increases in the prices of petroleum products have cost implications for doing business and living conditions. Organised labour has argued that it is unfair for the government to adjust salaries by 10 per cent when inflation ended the year at 17 per cent.

The workers representatives have already given the government an ultimatum to reduce the taxes or risk facing protests. The government, as a result, engaged the workers representatives in two meetings, in the hope that the two bodies could  reach a compromise.

Last Thursday, at a meeting with organised labour, the government’s representatives made it clear that it could not adjust the taxes downward because that would affect the national budget.

Over the last few years, the labour scene has been quite turbulent, especially, after the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Pay Policy (SSPP).

The government had quite a tough time navigating the complex process of ensuring a pay policy administration that satisfies all the workers on the public payroll.

Before then, a section of the working people had complained about the distortions in pay administration and presented petitions to various governments to address their concerns.

The government was bold to adopt the policy but its implementation was fraught with challenges that sometimes resulted in strikes.

Strikes do not only lock out labour but also disrupt productivity and create more bottlenecks in the economy.

It is the wish, not only of employers and the government that workers do not go on strike, but the workers want a situation where they can negotiate their concerns, including conditions of service without hiccups.

As human institutions, the relationships among the social partners and the workplace cannot be without disagreements.

What is essential is how the social partners are able to handle their issues effectively to avoid stalemates such as the one we are witnessing between the governments and organised labour.

The Daily Graphic has always maintained that negotiations involve compromises and that any member of the social partners who is not ready to compromise must not negotiate. Entrenched positions do not have space within negotiations and this is why we call on the government and organised labour to remain at the negotiation table until they reach an amicable resolution of the issues that have dodged the recent increases in tariffs.

The Daily Graphic believes that anything to the contrary is objectionable and must be avoided at all cost in order to maintain industrial harmony in the country.