Law on illegal strikes must bite

One of the biggest challenges faced by governments in the country has been that of strikes by employees on the payroll of the state.
Such employees, from unskilled labourers to middle level staff, as well as those in the highest echelons of work, including university dons, have at one point or another downed their tools in demand for one or another service condition to be fulfilled by the government of the day.

This is in spite of the fact that Ghana is touted as a country with one of the best labour laws on the continent. The Labour Act of 2003 (Act 651) states in clear terms  the steps employees can take to resolve their differences and also defines the circumstances under which a strike can be embarked upon.

In spite of this, the slightest workers’ agitations have aggravated into strikes to the detriment of the general public. We recall strikes by medical officers, usually followed by pharmacists and other health workers, which have brought untold hardships to Ghanaians.

In the past, education sector workers had downed their tools for such a long period that, universities in the country had to close down for a whole academic year. But that was before the coming into force of the Labour Act, under which the Labour Commission is to serve as a central body to see to the amicable settlement of employee grievances.

Although the NLC has declared many of the strikes embarked upon by these government employees illegal, no punitive measures have been taken against such workers, who have sometimes been on strike longer than permitted under the law. In the end, although these striking workers did no work, they walked to the banks to cash their salaries.

The Daily Graphic recalls that under the Kufuor Adminstration, the government withheld payment of salaries of some members of the National Association of Graduate Teachers who went on strike. But it was only a matter of time and all of them had the salaries paid.

This is why the Daily Graphic sees the caution of the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashietey, to workers who stage illegal strikes to stop or forfeit their salaries as a timely one.

For a long time, the nation has had to bear with striking workers some of whom abandon their posts for weeks, sometimes months, and return to take their emoluments without regard to the fact that such acts are counter-productive and a drain on the public purse.

Striking state workers should bear in mind that the Labour Act, in Section 168, frowns on illegal strikes and recommends either a termination without notice or forfeiture of remuneration of such employees. The government should also keep faith with workers and live by promises and pledges to stem these unproductive strikes.

Perhaps, it is time for the government to formulate a strike pay policy, as suggested recently by the Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Tony Aidoo, so that employee unions will pay their workers for as long as they choose to go on strike.

This way, the unions will better appreciate the burden of having to pay workers whose actions do not in any way improve productivity.

Daily Graphic/Ghana