Trade Union does not have the luxury of lamentations — Deputy Secretary-General

Mr. Joshua Ansah, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress - Ghana (TUC) on Tuesday stated that trade union does not have the luxury of lamentations but rather, carries a weighty responsibility of thinking outside the box and offering alternatives of best practices to enhance workers' conditions to the maximum limits.

He, therefore, admonished that the rights of migrant workers should be respected adding that "we are aware of the unfair treatment meted out on some domestic workers, especially on labour migrants, these practices have to stop".

Mr. Ansah also noted that migrant workers were the most affected by the COVID 19 pandemic particularly, domestic workers who saw huge numbers of deportation.

The TUC Deputy Secretary-General stated this during the launch of the Migration Recruitment Advisor (MRA) as part of a two-day stakeholders' capacity-building training organized in Accra, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult).

Madam Emma Ofori Agyeman, Director for Policy Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, on behalf of the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Dr Ignatius Baffuor-Awuah, duly launched the MRA platform in Ghana.

Mr Ansah said that the engagement is within the framework of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which is working with other stakeholders to promote and enhance fair and ethical recruitment in the country, especially for migrant workers.

He indicated that the fair recruitment initiative and by extension, the MRA is a new initiative in Ghana, and second in Africa with Kenya already implementing it.

Mr. Joel Akhator Odigie, Deputy General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - Africa called on all stakeholders to work together to prescribe practical solutions to curb this menace.

He said "this is a collaborative work that requires the active participation of migrants, employers, recruitment agencies, government, and the media to help improve and strengthen labour migration governance”.

The MRA is a new web platform developed and launched by the ITUC with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to help protect migrant workers from abusive employment practices, by providing them with peer-to-peer reviews about recruitment agencies in their country of origin and destination.

The platform allows workers to comment on their experiences, rate the recruitment agencies and learn about their rights. Initially available in English, Indonesian, Nepali, and Tagalog, it will be further developed in more languages.

The ITUC-Africa believes that the public and private recruitment agencies, when appropriately regulated, play an important role in the efficient and equitable functioning of both the migration process and labour markets in countries of destination.

It also matches the right workers with specific labour needs and labour markets, as well as creates invaluable skills assets for countries and communities of origin when workers return home.