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ICU General Secretary appeals for stimulus package for rural banks

The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial workers Union (ICU), Mr Morgan Ayawine, has appealed to the government to consider a stimulus package for rural banks to help them recapitalise.

According to him, the clean-up exercise of the financial sector has had a ripple effect on the operations of all rural banks either positively or negatively, depending on which side of the coin an institution found itself.

Mr Ayawine made this appeal on the occasion of a joint inauguration of a 12- member newly elected Professional and Managerial Staff Union (PIMSU) and the Local Union executives of Manya Krobo Rural Bank at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region.

He said the rural banks needed a push to make them more viable and sustainable, adding that, the banks had continued to play a human’s role within the moral economy which supports the Ghanaian populace.

Also amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that had bedeviled the world, posing threat to the financial sector, he indicated that it was imperative for the government to support all rural banks with stimulus package for their sustainability.

Also touching on the relevance of the workers unions, Mr Ayawine noted that the establishments of local unions at workplaces was essentially to help sustain and strengthen the interdependency of employers and employees, in the absence of which productivity could be undermined.

He added that the enrolment of a section of the professional and managerial staff of the Manya Krobo Rural Bank into the union attested to the confidence the staff of the bank had in the ICU-Ghana, as a Trade Union organisation ready, willing and capable of promoting and protecting their economic and social interests.

For his part, the Eastern Regional Officer of the ICU, Mr Richard Kumi, said the union over the years had endeavoured to foster a cordial social partnership with its employers, including the Manya Krobo Rural Bank.

Stating that since the inception of the enterprise based negotiation for Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) in 2018, the leadership had made major strides in their collective bargaining, adding that this year, despite the debilitating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had successfully reviewed the maiden collective agreement with a 15 per cent increment in salaries for all members.

FROM DAVID KODJO, ODUMASE-KROBO

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