Statement On Worker’s Day: Government Must Resolve The Strikes

The Progressive People's Party wishes all workers in our country Ghana a happy, restful May Day this year. We know that the going has been tough, the working conditions rough and the reward not what is desired. Many have worked hard. Many of our employers have also kept faith with us.

Ghanaian workers have proven to be resilient in the face of daunting challenges in terms of the erratic supply of electricity, water, an increase in the cost of production, rapid depreciation of the cedi and the lack of direction and focus of our political leaders. We can only commend the Ghanaian worker for his/her patience and keeping faith with the government to see an end to these harsh economic realities.

To the ordinary Ghanaian worker, we say, well done!

Whiles we congratulate the workers, the PPP wishes to remind the government of its responsibility to resolve the numerous economic problems confronting the country. Already there are indications that the promise to end the load-shedding exercise by the end of April 2013 cannot be achieved. The government must take full responsibility to resolve the avoidable industrial unrest occasioned by all the strike actions embarked upon by public sector workers. The government has demonstrated incompetence and lack of candour in resolving these issues.

We wish to remind President Mahama and the NDC government that propaganda is not leadership, sowing seeds of discord and attacking the reputation/integrity of leaders of striking Labour Unions are no substitutes for pragmatic solutions. Government must get real. Ghanaians are suffering but they are silent. The government cannot afford to take the silence of the Ghanaian worker for granted.

To resolve the industrial impasse, the government must review the implementation strategy of the Single Spine Pay Policy and advance a clear and coherent roadmap to ensure peace at the labour front.

We are also aware of the huge army of unemployed Ghanaian youth among whom are unemployed graduates from our tertiary institutions. Students continue to fail their BECE and join the class of unemployed people.

We wish to respectfully ask the government to work with a sense of urgency to provide tangible solutions to resolve the current precarious economic and social crises. We dare say that the current economic conditions portend undesirable consequences.

We wish all Ghanaian workers ayekoo!
Kofi Asamoah-Siaw
National Secretary