General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson, has disclosed the revelation of fat salaries and allowances enjoyed by CEOs of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), has pushed Organized Labour to initiate processes to consolidate themselves effectively.
After the 2003 Labour Act was passed, Trade Unions failed to organize themselves to function within the law. “There have been disagreements and you know politicians also have a way of polarizing the worker unions so they (politicians) can do their own thing. But now there’s been a shift and it’s because of a series of meetings we have been having within ourselves.”
According to him, the Labour Unions have come together to strategize on ways to confront some of these things happening to them such as CEOs of SOEs taking huge allowances for basically no work done, whiles Public Sector workers take home pittances.
“Very soon you will see Organized Labour functioning and I am happy Dr. Baah has sent signals out there to authorities to know they can’t continue to do this to affect Ghanaian workers negatively,” he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.
…With Labour Unions Organized now, they can champion issues outside their sector grievances. “We need to advise gov’t and present issues for them to understand. Together we will be strong and gov’t will take us seriously.”
The Finance Ministry in the State Ownership report revealed that SOEs made huge financial losses to the tune of about ¢6bn. Yet, leaders of State-Owned Enterprises do not only take huge salaries but also enjoy a wide range of allowances.
Thirty billion cedis, representing almost 50 percent of national revenue goes into the payment of public sector wages.
But as the economy struggles, labour unions are demanding appropriate salaries to cope with current conditions.
