Stop paying striking workers - Judgement Debt Commissioner advises govt

The Sole Commissioner of the Judgement Debt Commission, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, says it is time the government stopped paying the salaries of workers who embark on strike for long periods.

He said the payment of salaries to members of unions, such as the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG), was a severe drain on the economy, which the government had to discourage.

“We live in a country where unions go for one or two months strike yet their members walk to the banks to cash their salaries at the end of the month,” he stated.

Expressing concern about frequent labour disputes in the country at the commission’s sitting last Thursday, Mr Justice Apau said in other countries, it was the union which asked its members to go on strike that paid their salaries for the days they were on strike.

“Therefore, when members of unions take their salaries at the end of the month and are proud of it, they do not have conscience,” he stated.

Mr Justice Apau was reacting to complaints by the acting Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission (NLC), Dr Bernice Welbeck, that most head of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) had failed to co-operate with it to settle complaints made against them.

Such attitude, she said, had resulted in frequent labour disputes, leading to prevailing strikes in the country.

Endless labour disputes

Mr Justice Apau stated that the NLC was set up with a mandate to settle labour disputes, but many unions had persistently failed to cooperate with it to enable it to discharge its mandate.

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The situation, he said, had resulted in frequent labour disputes that had prompted many labour unions to go for long periods of strikes at the expense of the state.

“Today, everybody is embarking on strike because they get paid at the end of the month by the government and it is high time the government stopped paying striking workers,” he added.

Paid for no work

“You are supposed to be paid for work done. In other countries, it is not like that. If you go on strike for two days, you are not paid for two days. It is the union which asked you to go on strike that would pay you for the two days. That is why they declare three or five days strike because that is what they can pay,” the Sole Commissioner stated.

He pointed out that in Ghana every union could go on strike and at the end of the month “government put money in their account for them to go and take it; what sort of country is this?”