Tripartite Committee meeting ends inconclusively

Edmund Smith-Asante Nov - 06 - 2013 , 03:27

An emergency meeting held by members of the National Tripartite Committee, comprising the government, organised labour and the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), yesterday dragged on for about four hours and ended inconclusively.

The meeting had been called at the instance of the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Antwi-Bosiako Sekyere, to discuss the incidence of labour agitation.

Representatives of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), the GEA, the government and organised labour, including the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, among others, began deliberations about 2.30 p.m.

However, an official source disclosed to the Daily Graphic that after a series of debates, the meeting, which ended after 6.30 p.m., was not able to arrive at any decision.

The source said the next step after the inconclusive meeting was a briefing by the Chief of Staff on what had transpired, after which another meeting would be scheduled and final decisions taken.

According to the source, “the minister said he wouldn’t talk on the issue to anybody because there was nothing to talk about. His deputy said he wouldn’t talk; Mr Asamoah wouldn’t talk till they arrived at a decision. They are going to talk to the Chief of Staff and when they arrive at a decision they will hold another meeting with the Tripartite Committee and then they will decide on what to do”.

Information available to the Daily Graphic indicated that the agenda for the meeting, chaired by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashietey, included the threat of a national strike by organised labour and the Concerned Teachers Association, as well as short remarks by the GEA and organised labour.

After a Technical Working Group (TWG) set up by the government to address the impasse between organised labour and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) had come up with its guidelines in October this year, organised labour showed its dissatisfaction and, therefore, called a nationwide strike to be staged on Monday, November 18 to drum home its demand.