Don't cause disturbances during elections - ICU advises workers, youth

The General-Secretary of the ICU, Morgan Ayawine, who gave the advice in his May Day message, said as the working class, they needed peace to "earn our livelihoods since in the absence of peace, we cannot attend to our work".

"Peace and stability unequivocally play a pivotal role in the socio-economic and national development scheme of things. “It is, therefore, incumbent on each and every one in this country to work at securing peace in every sense of the word and in every facet of our lives, especially during this political season where peace could easily be compromised and we may no longer have that peaceful country called Ghana," he added.

This year’s May Day Celebration was on the theme: Election 2024: “The role of workers and social partners in securing peaceful elections for national development.”

Significance

Mr Ayawine said the annual celebration of the event was a solemn reminder of the rough and rugged path the union's predecessors had traversed for close to one and a half centuries.

He said that had led to "the industrial democracy that we are enjoying today as workers and leaders legally clothed to sit side by side with employers and the government at the same table to negotiate terms and conditions of service”.

The General-Secretary said such a legacy must jealously be protected against any employer who might want to short-change labour under the guise of global economic recession, when it had been established that economies and businesses were recovering and the outcomes were positive.

"While we work collaboratively with our social partners to increase jobs and protect same, it is pertinent to sound a note of caution to employers who indulge in such demeaning practices of converting permanent job positions to casual and contract work in a bid to maximise profit to halt the practice outrightly," Mr Ayawine said.

Commendation

The General-Secretary further expressed appreciation to all workers who were doing their bit to accelerate national growth. He urged them to continue to offer their best to ensure high productivity, profitability and sustainability of businesses to achieve their organisational goals for the good of all, and for the development of the national economy.

Mr Ayawine said the union was not unaware of the post-COVID and Russia-Ukraine War ripple effect which almost dislocated the economy. "But, that notwithstanding, the government has a herculean task of putting in place realistic and realisable economic measures that are sustainable and able to quickly turn around the current economic downturn," he said.