The Labour Division of the Accra High Court has ruled against the Parliamentary Service in a seven year tussle over the unionization of its employees.
After years of agitations, the Financial, Business and Services Employees Union (FEBSU) dragged the Parliamentary Service to the National Labour Commission (NLC) in May 2010, accusing it of violating provisions in the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651).
Under the Section79 (1) every worker has the right to form or join a trade union with the exception of workers of the Armed Forces, the Police Service, the Prison Service as well as the Security and Intelligence Agencies.
Although the Chief Labour Officer issued parliamentary staff with a Collective Bargaining Certificate, the Parliamentary Service Board refused to sign the Constitution of the Standing Negotiation Committee. The board also ignored a directive from the NLC to sign the document in compliance with the Labour Act. This compelled the NLC to sue the Parliamentary Service Board over its opposition to the unionization of its workers. Giving the ruling, the court presided over by His Lord- ship Justice Quist referred to Section 172 of the Labour Act,2003 Act 651
that provides that:“Where a person fails or refuses to comply with a direction or an order issued by the Com- mission under this Act, the com- mission shall make an application to the High Court for an order to compel that person to comply with the direction or order”.
The court upheld the earlier directive of the NLC and asked the Parliamentary Service Board to comply with it. Part of the ruling states:
“It is hereby ordered that, the Parliamentary Service Board must comply with the orders of the National Labour Commission to allow the plaintiff the right to form an in house union of their choice to promote their rights and interests under the Labour Act 2003, Act 651 and Article 24(3) of the 1992 Consti- tution of Ghana”.
Maxwell Tetteh, Chairman of the Parliamentary Services Employees Union has hailed the ruling in an interview with Business Day Ghana.
“We are very happy about the ruling. At the moment there are some internal matters we are han- dling with our employers. Some of the issues are related to the substan- tive matter so we have to deal with the matter tactfully. But we will meet the executives and decide on our next line of action”, he explained.
The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) also petitioned the NLC over the matter. It cited a letter signed by the Clerk of Parliament as far back as 2008, asking the parliamentary staff to join an internal instead of an external union. The GFL argued that the directive was illegal since the labour laws prevent only work- ers of the Security and Intelligence Services from unionizing.
