The Trade Union Congress (TUC) says it will vigorously resist any conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will impose further hardships on Ghana or workers.
The labour movement said it would contest any conditionality on job cuts if such recommendation was not backed by full engagement with labour and scientific evidence on the necessity for any redundancy.
The TUC, therefore, called on the government to negotiate with IMF based on the country’s home-grown economic policies and the Senchi Consensus.
In an interview, the Secretary-General of the TUC, Mr Kofi Asamoah explained that the TUC was against prescriptions of the IMF that worsened the plight of nationals of developing countries when implemented.
He said after consultations with its affiliates, the TUC had a meeting with President John Mahama and his advisors on the government’s engagement with the IMF.
He said at that meeting, the TUC impressed upon the government that the union would only cooperate with it on an economic bailout provided such a programme was tailored along the country’s economic policies.
The government and officials of the IMF have begun discussions on an economic programme for the country in Accra.
The talks are intended for the government and the IMF to chart a path to resolve the country’s economic challenges.
Extensive engagement
Mr Asamoah said during the meeting with the President last week, the affiliates of the TUC also underscored the need for the government to engage all partners in any policy decision it sought to undertake, particularly after its talks with the IMF.
For instance, he said any policy decisions in relation to the wage bill under the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), which is often cited by the government as one of the causes of the country’s economic challenges and captured in the Senchi Consensus and the home-grown economic policy, had to be thoroughly discussed.
He said that was because it was the view of labour unions that the government ought to efficiently manage the wage bill to reduce the excesses that were due to ‘ghost names’ being on its payroll.
Other administrative lapses in the management of the wage bill, Mr Asamoah said, had resulted in a situation where public sector workers sometimes continued to withdraw salaries several years after they had retired from the service.
He said the efficient management of the wage bill had consistently been presented to the government as labour’s view on how the economic challenges could be solved.
Mr Asamoah said there had been instances in the past when redundancies were prescribed but the economic challenges persisted.
He said the union was also against standard prescriptions offered as a panacea for all countries with economic challenges.
Source: Graphic
