Tripartite committee to review ESB

The Tripartite Committee is to be mandated to review the issue of End of Service Benefits (ESB), Dr Yaw Osafo- Maafo, Minister of Finance, told Parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Osafo-Maafo, who was answering a question from Mr Kwakye Addo, NDC -Afram Plains South, said the committee would determine whether or not the benefits should be restored and the basis for determining workers' entitlements.

The previous government suspended the ESB with effect from December 31st 1990.

The Minister of Finance said that some of the considerations that precipitated the suspension of the ESB still remain and the government has decided that as a follow-up to the agreement on the minimum wage, the Tripartite Committee involving the Government, Employers and Organised Labour should be made to review it.

Dr Osafo- Maafo explained that some of the factors that necessitated the suspension of benefits were the magnitude of the total amount involved and its overall impact on the national economy, particularly on the viability of many of the private sector enterprises, creation of job opportunities and government borrowing from the domestic market and inflation.

When Mr Addo asked when the Committee would commence its work and how long it would take to complete, Dr Osafo-Maafo said an economic management team is currently working on it and it is expected that discussions would continue up to the end of June.

Dr Osafo-Maafo said in the interest of job creation and to protect the private sector enterprises, the issue of ESB needs critical analysis based on facts and figures from all the stakeholders to arrive at a consensus.