The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is expressing disquiet about the increasing change of the status of Ghanaian workers in the private sector from permanent staff to contract or casual workers.
The union is warning such moves infringe on the country’s labour laws, hence must be stopped.
According to the TUC, companies in the extractive industry, banking industry and the construction industry have resort to engaging and re-engaging their workers on contract or casual staff terms.
This, the TUC describes as unacceptable since contract working limits the benefits and rights of workers under the labour laws of the country.
The Secretary-General of the TUC, Dr Yaw Baah who was speaking ahead of the May Day celebration told Citi Business News there must be a new policy that will protect workers from being forced from permanent workers to contract or casual workers.
“We see it in many sectors. We see it in the maritime sector, the mines, and in the banking sector, the situation is bad. They are all outsourcing their employees. They engage them as casual workers. We need to deal with it. I think our labour law should be effective to protect the Ghanaian worker,” he stressed.
He argued that under contract work, some Ghanaian employers deny their employees basic benefits such as salary increment, contribution to provident fund, and even payment of Social Security even though they are obliged to do so.
He pointed out that, most contact workers are given a short period for working after which the terms of engagement are not reviewed even though their employers still deem them as contract workers.
Most of them, according to him, work for years with no benefit due to their companies categorizing them as contract workers.
Dr Baah stated that there is the need to change some of the policies to protect such workers.
On her part, the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Grace Bediako was optimistic government’s job agenda may force a change in the development.
She maintained that the act of forcing permanent workers to assume contract staff status could be informalizing the economy, hence the legal regime must be checked to protect workers.
CBN
