Address unions fragmentation - Former TUC boss to Organised Labour
A Former Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, has stressed the need for Organised Labour to address the issue of fragmentation of trade unions in the country.
"We must unite as Organised Labour and critically address the fragmentation of trade unions in Ghana," he stressed.
Mr Adu-Amankwah, who is the immediate-past Secretary-General of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), said this when he delivered the keynote address at the 80th anniversary celebration of the TUC in Accra last Monday.
Mr Adu-Amankwah, providing a historical sequence of events, said at the time the country gained independence, there were over 94 unions then, a figure considered too many by the early leaders who strategised on how to get them together.
Today, he said, there were more than 150 registered unions.
"So, there is a lot of work to do; we need to reach out, we need to work, uniting those who are already organised because if you are organised and everybody is in their small corner, how are we going to deal with these questions that we have raised about even living wage and social protection," he said.
Mr Adu-Amankwah said there was the need to organise the unorganised, both in the formal and informal economy, stressing that there were many formal sector small enterprises which did not have unions.
"So, we need to pay attention to bring the unorganised into our fold. When we think of the informal economy people, we should not be thinking of bringing them in as second-class members, (but) as full members," he said.
As labour, he said, "we need to reach out to others to be able to address the broad issues that face us as a whole".
Labour, Mr Adu-Amankwah said, needed to lead policy debate.
Proud moment
The Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Dr Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, said the 80th milestone was not only a proud moment for the TUC, but also a reflection of the resilience, commitment and sacrifices of the working people of the country who had stood at the forefront of its social and economic progress.
On such a memorable occasion, he said, it was only proper and appropriate that "we commend the leaders and members of TUC for what they have achieved over the past eight decades".
"We are gathered here today because of the incredible journey you have all taken together.
Every single person in this room and those who came before you have contributed to this immense success.
Your collective hard work has not only strengthened the TUC, but also impacted the development and transformation of Ghana's economy," he said.
Dr Pelpuo said the TUC, since its formation in 1945, had remained a formidable force in shaping the country's democratic journey, championing workers' rights and advancing social justice.
"The story of the TUC is intertwined with the story of our nation," he said.
An Associate Professor at the Department of Labour and Human Resource Studies at the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Akua O. Britwum, said the celebration should be a time for reflection because the TUC was an organisation that had survived and thrived.
Decades
For his part, the Secretary-General of the TUC, Joshua Ansah, said for eight decades the TUC had been at the heart of the country's industrial relations landscape.
That, he said, was giving workers a strong voice, defending their rights and contributing to national development.
He said from humble beginnings in 1945, TUC had journeyed with the working people of the country through times and struggles, times of progress and times of transformation.
The Chairman of the TUC, Bernard Owusu, said apart from the celebration of the 80th anniversary, the event was also to reflect on the sacrifice and resilience that had brought it this far.
