Monday,
May 19, 2014
Since the establishment of the
Ghana Trades Union TUC) under the Nkrumah government, its leaders have in one
way or the other created impressions that they are either pro-government
(meaning that they are against the interests of the very workers that they are
in office to redeem from the government’s unsuitable attitude to remuneration
and working conditions, generally) or for workers (that they support efforts to
improve working conditions for the good of workers, damn the repercussions).
And the history of the TUC shows
that its leaders have suffered or gained from the vicissitudes of the
situation, depending on how the political pendulum swung. Those in the good
books of the government laughed all the way to the bank and ended up as
Ambassadors or High Commissioners upon leaving office. Those disfavoured had to
run for cover to save their skins.
John Tetegah (someone I fondly
remember for acknowledging my worth in Moscow, Russia, in 1987) exemplified the
cross-pollination that productive labour relations work entails. Anthony Yankey
too comes to mind. Others may also be recalled for special mention, depending
on how they used their offices to either uplift or downgrade the status of the
Ghanaian worker. And Ebo Tawiah was even a high-ranking member of Rawlings’
PNDC.
Ghanaian workers are classified
into two: those in the private sector and those in the public sector (on
government payroll because they are in the public service, Ministries,
Departments, and Agencies that thrive on government subvention, derived from
the Consolidated Fund).
The public sector workers are
always at the beck and call of either their leaders or sympathizers in
government. Theirs is a dicey situation of ups-and-downs, more often with the
downs! The spate of industrial actions (currently by Polytechnic Teachers Association
of Ghana, National Association of Graduate Teachers, and others) says it all.
It is perennial and ritualistic. Those who know how to play their cards benefit
from such situations, though.
And mushroom associations claiming
to represent the interest of workers emerge every day. Take this one, for
instance: National Association of Unemployed Graduates!! And it has also found
a perch because the politicians critical of the incumbent have been quick to
rope them into their narrow scope of partisan “rogue” politics. Anything
labour-oriented seems to have traction!
Workers in the private sector are
tied to “philanthropists” whose businesses they gravitate toward and seem not
to have a fixed destiny. Everything depends on the whims and caprices (even the
temper or mood of the employer or anybody who can pull strings to determine
their fate).
Whether public or private, everything
is tied to one thing: the daily minimum wage that makes or mars the individual
worker’s lifestyle.
In Ghana, the minimum daily wage
regimen seems to transfix emoluments. Thus, the private sector is required to
toe the line, even though those who know how to play their cards can always
outwit the system and still be on their feet because their “political
connections” will keep them in good stead. Woe betide those without political
connections!!
And the workers’ leaders also
have political connections with which to do things for weal or for woe.
A few friends at the TUC
headquarters told me in those when I was a reporter at the Ghana News Agency in
Accra that all that their labour or union leaders knew how to do was to breathe
hot air concerning strike actions and then snuggle close to the power-that-be
for some "packages" to cushion themselves.
Clearly, allegations of bribery
and abuse of power are levelled against workers’ leaders, which dooms them. It turns
out to be a huge irony of fate, then.
I remember very well the days of
Napoleon Kpoh of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union and all others at
the TUC headquarters who knew how to play their cards and could “make it” just
by blowing hot air down the spine of employers and government. And in turbulent
political situations, they profited from such manouevres.
This kind of industrial/labour
relations work for personal gain has been the order at the TUC (national,
regional) all these years. If you doubt it, don’t insult me. Just do your own
independent groundwork to know what I have known all these years. Then, you will
come back to enrich the conversation on how the politics going on in/between organized
labour, government/employers should be done.
Even the workers' monetary contributions
forwarded to the TUC headquarters are not accounted for. There was a Denis
Vormawor who moved to invest workers' contributions in a venture that hasn't
benefited workers. No worker has even dared find out how the investment stands
today. Who is asking for any accountability?
There is much for Ghanaians
workers and their leaders to do if they want to rise above the perennial ritualistic
approaches to seeking improved relations with their employers for mutual
benefits.
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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the conversation.
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