Striking workers avoiding dialogue — Govt

The Forum of Public Sector Registered Pension Scheme Workers is said to be avoiding dialogue with the government team ostensibly to prolong the indefinite strike it has emabarked upon.

A source close to the government told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the government team had been waiting for the leadership of the striking workers since last Tuesday to find an amicable solution to the impasse over the management of the second tier pension scheme under the National Pension Act 2008 (Act 766).

It said organised labour in a letter to the Employment and Labour Relations Minister had indicated that its team could only be available next week Tuesday, October 28, a move the source described as unfortunate as the government team was ever prepared to meet to resolve all outstanding issues.

The source said the government remained committed to dialogue at any time as it was committed to ensuring a better management of the second tier of the workers’ pensions.

When contacted on Thursday, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, declined comment on the matter except to say that “labour matters are better dealt with outside the domain of the media”.

The strike by the public sector workers was occassioned by the fact that beneficiaries of the second tier pension are to benefit from the scheme next year but organised labour was uncertain whether they will be paid.

However, in an earlier interview in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Iddrisu said in its quest to ensure that workers were not short-changed but had full access to the exact amounts due them under the scheme, the government would employ the services of actuaries and other experts in the industry to help with the calculation of monies due the first batch of pensioners from January 1, next year.