Monday, October 21, 2013
Being
a pillar of the government, the figure cut by Nunoo-Mensah has created
misleading impressions and provoked public anger against him for nothing. After
all, he has no more power to change anything in the country than I have. Being
the National Security Advisor doesn’t empower him to do what the President
or his Vice or even (Regional) Ministers or CEOs of the Metropolitan/Municipal/District
Assemblies can do. He is at the beck and call of the appointing authority and
doesn’t wield the power that he can use to effect any change.
That
is why his utterances need not be over-extended to cover the government or to
suggest that his viewpoints on this score reflect the thinking of President
Mahama. He spoke as an individual and is prepared for the consequences as such.
As
he has already indicated in his interview with the BBC, he “owes nobody any
apology for comments that have angered Ghanaian workers and some political
groupings.” He is adamant, explaining, however that he is not against
workers’ going on strike but that they shouldn’t expect to be paid for the
period that their strike action covers. This is another important issue to be
addressed, not dismissed.
This
call for the suspension of salaries of such striking employees is nothing new
or wayward. Our Civil Service Code stipulates that if workers absent
themselves from work for 15 consecutive days, they are automatically disengaged/dismissed
from work. Has any government been bold enough to implement this stipulation?
No!! Lack of political will and moral strength to enforce this provision
encourages this indiscipline that irks Nunoo-Mensah.
In
other countries, the situation is different. Workers don’t get paid for the
period that they withdraw their services. In other cases, they are even made to
pay for the period. Just one personal example. Some three years ago when
faculty at my university withdrew services for three days in protest against a
bad management decision, they were “docked”, meaning that a percentage of their
salaries was withheld to compensate for the total number of days on which they
were on strike.
No
one dared protest at this deduction. The matter was not raised anywhere again
and the aspects of the collective bargaining against which the strike action
was taken took effect. In the end, then, faculty paid for their genuine strike
action and returned to work without claiming to have achieved anything concrete
out of the strike action. The system took care of itself.
Can
this measure be enforced in Ghana? The lack of political will and the fear of
losing political capital from organized labour scare the politicians and their
cohorts in charge of the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. I am waiting
for that day when a bold government will ensure that workers are not paid for
the period that they go on strike and that the rules of the game are laid out
and enforced.
On
that score, the challenge will be for the employer to ensure equity and transparency
in dealing with organized labour. Until the system is streamlined and every
player knows that there are consequences for any action or inaction that disrupts
the chain of production, what Nunoo-Mensah complained about will continue to be
our country’s bane.
Yes,
workers have the constitutional right to go on strike in demand redress but
they need to know their limits just as the employer must. If this free-for-all
situation persists, nothing sensible will emerge to change the dynamics for the
country’s good.
I
think that is the nub of Nunoo-Mensah’s effusions, even though he chose words
wrongly and allowed what shouldn’t have been highlighted in his utterances to
overshadow the bitter truth that he had to convey. To me, he is no sacrificial
lamb to use in getting at the government and must be assessed as an individual
with genuine concerns. His manner of expressing them—or the distance he went in
expressing them—might come across as reprehensible, but such is the unavoidable
difficulty inherent in how bitter truths are told or come across when told.
Obviously,
though, industrial actions are potent political tools used by workers to press
home their demands for better service conditions. The constitution allows that
freedom and the various collective bargaining agreements at various workplaces
also endorse that line of action.
What
is troubling, however, is the spate of industrial actions and the circumstances
surrounding them, especially on suspicion that some disgruntled political
forces have infiltrated the ranks of organized labour and might be
stage-managing the strike actions to achieve their objectives of making the
government unpopular to be rejected at the polls.
Be
that as it may, the buck ends with the government itself, which is why Nunoo-Mensah’s
utterance has not sunk well with those criticizing him. Of course, it is the
responsibility of the government (the main employer) and all stake holders to
ensure that service conditions are favourable and the congenial atmosphere is
created for productivity to be raised.
In
our current situation, there seems to be little on the board, which is why the
government is being pushed to the wall. Its resilience is at risk and unless
drastic action is taken to reverse the negative trend, the situation won’t
abate soon.
In
that sense, nerves will remain raw, and unguarded utterances of the sort made
by Nunoo-Mensah will nettle society, however genuine they may be as an
expression of frustration and apprehension at the damage caused by
uncontrollable industrial actions of the sort threatening the relationship
between the government and organized labour.
Even
then, dialogue between the government and organized labour and a genuine
commitment toward solving problems should be the norm, not misguided utterances
from those in authority. And workers, especially their leaders, should also
stand firm and separate pure labour-related issues from partisan political ones
so that they don’t create any favourable condition to be exploited by the
disgruntled politicians lurking around.
The
workers’ leaders must ensure that they don’t overdo things to destabilize the
industrial atmosphere and endanger the national economy all the more. Whatever
genuine grievances they have must be carefully channelled to the appropriate
quarters for redress. They must ensure that negotiations determine the line of
action and not cloud their judgement with politically motivated intrigues.
All
must remember that none is more patriotic than anybody else and that the
national interest must always be placed ahead of all considerations. In that
sense, then, none should be so narrow-minded as to think that using industrial
action for pursuing personal interests is the main means at their disposal. More
importantly, it must be drummed home to all that the issues being cited as the
motivation for industrial action are part of the age-old systemic problems
militating against national development.
In
this regard, then, all must look beyond cosmetic measures and seek solutions
that will have long-lasting impact on national life. Nunoo-Mensah has set the
ball rolling, and all must act judiciously to find solutions, not compound
existing problems or create new ones to add to them. Ghana deserves better.
Probably, this twist can help us appreciate better Nunoo-Mensah’s effusions.
I shall return…
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