We Will Dialogue If...Organised Labour

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Created on Friday, 01 November 2013 00:00

We Will Dialogue If...Organised Labour

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) as well as organized labour have expressed their willingness to dialogue with government and other stakeholders provided that they will not be asked to accept the utility tariff increment.

Organized labour has threatened to go on a nationwide strike on November 18, if government and the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) insist on the 78.9% increment on electricity and 50% increment on water.

TUC has justified the strike action as the most appropriate measure in compelling government to heed calls for an immediate reduction in utility tariffs to mitigate the impact it is having on the majority of Ghanaians.

In response to the threat of a strike action, government has called on organised labour to engage it constructively through meaningful discussions, instead of threats of strike.

Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mahama Ayariga said if Ghanaians wanted the government to subsidise utility tariffs, it must be done through dialogue.

But speaking in an interview with Nana Yaw Kesse, sit-in host of Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” Morning Show, the General Secretary of the TUC, Kofi Asamoah said “we are not saying we will not pay the tariff but the increment should be done gradually…that was why we were urging for the automatic adjustment”.

He said “if government wants to dialogue, from now to the 18th (November) that is okay we will agree but they should not tell us that nothing can be done about the increment and so we should pay. Paying the 78.9% at a stretch is difficult”.

PURC Adamant

Meanwhile, PURC says it has no plans of reviewing downwards water and electricity tariffs to meet the demands of organised labour.

The Director of Public Relations and External Affairs of the commission, Nana Yaa Jantuah, said any further reduction could cripple the utility service providers and lead the country back to the era of load-shedding.

However, Mr Asamoah is of the view that if PURC was willing to amicably solve the issue, “they would not be making those comments”.

“It is true they are an independent body but how come during elections they refuse to bring in any increment. The problems with the utility tariffs are from their actions and inactions and so the blame can be placed at their doorsteps. If they were truly independent, they would not have been manipulated from 2010 so much so that they could not bring about the automatic adjustment…We, the leaders of organized labour are so matured that no politician can manipulate us. We are in difficult times and so government needs to do something about it…,” he stressed.

Source: Rebecca Addo-Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com