Organised labour declares mass action next week
Organised labour unions have resolved to proceed with their planned nationwide actions as a result of an inconclusive meeting with the government at the Flagstaff House last Thursday.
They have, therefore, declared a nationwide demonstration on January 20, 2016 at 8 a.m.
The decision to go ahead with the planned actions was announced at a press conference in Accra yesterday addressed by Mr Kofi Asamoah, who read a statement on behalf of workers to explain the decision of labour unions.
Flanked by the Deputy Secretary-General of the TUC, Dr Yaw Baah, and the Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAG), Mr Isaac Bampoe, Mr Asamoah said, “Our last meeting with the government ended inconclusively at the Flagstaff House. As a result, we are left with no other option but to proceed with our planned nationwide actions to express our outrage at the avalanche of insensitive increases in taxes, levies and utility prices at this time when workers and the average Ghanaian are at their most difficult economic ebb.”
“These actions are intended principally to get the government to reduce the utility tariffs and to withdraw the ‘killer’ Energy Sector Levies Act,” he added.
Out of touch
Mr Asamoah said the workers’ actions were informed by the simple fact that in their view, the government had lost touch with the economic and social realities in Ghana which affect Ghanaians.
“And that is what happens to every government and country that leaves its economic and social policies to the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” he maintained.
Outlining some figures, Mr Asamoah explained that the government had raised public-sector wages by just 10 per cent this year.
“With inflation at near 17 per cent, there is an expected seven per cent decline in public-sector earnings,” he added.
Additionally, he said, for workers in the private sector, the prolonged energy crisis meant that most of them had lost their jobs or were on the verge of doing so.
In such situations, Mr Asamoah said, wage increases were difficult to obtain, and in some cases were off the table.
“Organised labour is not in denial of the need for some increases in utility tariffs. However, given the current situation of Ghanaians, we firmly believe that the levels of the current increases are unbearable. And all we are asking government is to stagger the increases. This is not too much to ask,” he stressed.
Parliament why?
Organised labour also used the press conference to indict Parliament for rushing the passage of the Energy Sector Levies Act just before they went on recess.
Mr Asamoah said the Act was a “desperate and insensitive attempt by the government to squeeze everything out of the average Ghanaian.”
He said it flew in the face of the “so-called deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.”
Of concern to Mr Asamoah was the fact that the bill was so badly written that one was at a loss as to why Parliament would pass such a law.
Apart from the law being open-ended, undefined and unspecified in several areas, it gave room for the perpetual collection of the so-called Tema Oil Refinery Levies, which had been exacted since 2001 from Ghanaians.
Be transparent
“Government continues to talk about legacy debts, which Ghanaians need to pay, but fails to tell us how the debt came about,” he pointed out.
He said with a mandate to defend the working people and the vulnerable, organised labour was therefore, declaring a nation-wide demonstration on January 20, 2016 at 8 a.m.
In Accra, he announced that workers would converge on the Obra Spot, while regional executives would inform all workers in the regions about their prospective venues.
“We call on Ghanaians who believe in the constitutional provision that our welfare and happiness should be paramount in government policy to join the demonstrations,” Mr Asamoah said.
Context
In November 2015, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, responding to a statement by the TUC about public hearings and stakeholder engagements organised by the commission where a majority of consumers expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of service by utility service providers, also issued a statement saying that the claims were not a true reflection of the proceedings at the various fora.
The commission added that it had not reached any decision on tariff adjustments.
On December 7, 2015, the PURC announced electricity tariff adjustments that were to take effect from December 14, 2015.
The adjustments were 59.2 per cent increase in electricity tariffs and 67.2 per cent increase in water rates.
A public outcry ensued, with the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) proceeding to court over the proposed increases.
Organised labour, on the other hand, sought dialogue with policy makers over the hikes, but were forced to announce a road map of activities in January 2016, when prior meetings resulted in no compromises.
A meeting between the PURC and the TUC on December 14 to discuss calls for the suspension of the implementation of the tariff increases ended inconclusively.
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