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25.10.2014 General News

Labour unions have no expertise on issues they negotiate-Kpessah Whyte

By Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
Labour unions have no expertise on issues they negotiate-Kpessah Whyte
25.10.2014 LISTEN

A day after government sued public sector workers for embarking on an "illegal" strike, a presidential staffer is also questioning the competence of labour unions to expertly negotiate their grievances.

Unlike other labour unions in other parts of the world which hire experts to negotiate on their behalf, Dr Kpessah Whyte said the situation in Ghana is different.

According to the Presidential Staffer he has personally sat through some of the government-labour negotiations and can say without any shred of doubt that none of the leadership had the expertise on the issues they were discussing.

"I have scanned through the current leadership of the labour unions and i can say that none of them has the expertise to forcefully negotiate on behalf of the workers," he said.

He would rather the workers go for consultants to negotiate on their behalf.

Dr Whyte was speaking on Joy FM's news analysis programme Newsfile Saturday.

Public Sector workers belonging to 12 labour unions have announced an indefinite strike action that has left doctors and care givers abandoning their patients; teachers abandoning the class rooms and possibly judges vacating the courts.

They are unhappy with government's handling of the tier two pension scheme. The workers want to select their own fund managers to manage the five per cent under the tier two pension scheme but government says it cannot allow the individual unions to select and manage their schemes.

In reaction to the strike, government sued the various unions describing the strike as illegal.

The writ, among other things is asking the court to make a pronouncement that government is indeed the employer and also to declare the strike as illegal.

The labour unions are unfazed and have expressed their readiness to meet the government in court.

Dr Kpessah Whyte dismissed the assertion that government has unnecessarily prolonged the negotiation on pensions explaining it is not always the case that government had shown bad faith.

He argued that on many occasions government has accommodated the demands of the workers in good faith but "If labour say if you don't yield to what we put on the table then we will not move an inch from our original request" then that is problematic.

Former Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party Nana Akomea described as "unfortunate" claims that the labour unions do not have the requisite expertise to negotiate for themselves.

Having sat at the negotiating table as a former employment minister, Nana Akomea said he has been enthralled by the depth of knowledge the leaders of various labour unions have brought to bear on issues.

But Dr Whyte hit back at Akomea's argument accusing him of trying to win "cheap political points."

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