The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) is demanding the payment of redundancy packages for all workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) before the power company is privatized.
The government of Ghana has entered into an agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) under the Power Compact Two to privatize the operations of the ECG.
The process has stalled several times as the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has expressed some concerns about potential job losses.
Speaking to Citi Business News during a picketing at the premises of the Trades Union Congress in Accra on Tuesday, the General Secretary of PUWU, Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi, stated that the union will go to court if their grievances are not addressed by government.
“This action is being done to draw government’s attention to our issue that we think that the payment of severance to staff of ECG should be considered under the ongoing arrangement where they want to give out the company to a private operator. And from what we have read, what they are planning to do is that they will move the staff from ECG to go and work for the private operator, and we think that under the labour law, such arrangement should require the payment of what the law calls redundancy pay.”
“We want the government to know that it is something they cannot run away from. If they are embarking on this activity, then they must also respect the rights of the workers and also do the right thing,” he added.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citifmonline.com/Ghana