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ICU-Ghana wants labour Act amended …to deal with ‘precarious work’

The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU-Ghana) has called for the amendment of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), to deal with the ills of ‘Precarious Work’ that jeopardise the future financial security of its workers.

Also known as ‘Casual’ or ‘Temporal’ work, ‘Precarious Work’,  is one that deprives workers of benefits they deserve though they worked for the same number of days, hours and do the same type of work that those classified as “regular” or “permanent” workers do.

Mr Morgan Ayawine, General Secretary, ICU-Ghana, in a statement signed and issued in Accra, on Thursday, charged stakeholders, including government, employers and trade unions to collaborate in relieving these class of workers from their plight.

“Indeed, we the stakeholders – Government, Employers and Trade Unions have the binding duty to relieve these class of workers from their plight so as to secure their future financial security,” he said.

MrAyawinesaid “the essence, therefore, of this narrative is to sensitise all the above-mentioned stakeholders on these unjust practices and urge them to join hands together to get Workers of Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) amended to reflect the ideals of ‘Decent Work’ and also to stop defaulters of the labour law forthwith”.

He said“This injustice is perpetrated by some unscrupulous organisations/employers in collusion with the so-called private employment agencies.

“Their modus operandi, sometimes, is to convert and transfer the whole regular or permanent workers in a department or unit of an organisation to the private employment agencies under the guise of ‘outsourcing’.

According to the General Secretary, these agencies bring back these workers to work momentarily and collect huge sums of money from the agencies, but pay them peanuts.

MrAyawinesaid “These private employment agencies then plough back the workers into the same organisation and tag them as “casual” or “temporary” workers”. 

“Upon that, they collect huge sums of monies from the organisations/employers and pay a pittance to those unfortunate workers who have been ‘recycled’, as it were, as “casual” or “temporary,” who toil and sweat for the organisations/employers, in contravention of Section 74(2) of Act 651,” he added.

MrAyawinesaid it was “unpatriotic and an injustice,” noting that it trampled on the rights of these persons which had to end.

He said that the menace affected government’s tax revenue generation as no tax were being deducted from these workers.

BY TIMES REPORTER

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