Organised Labour Has Declared An Indefinite Strike Starting Dec. 27
The labour front has been instrumental on their stands that Government exclude their pension funds from the Domestic Exchange Programme. They believed this would bring further untold hardship on it’s members preparing to go on pension. The leadership said this has become necessary due to the refusal of government to listen to their “advice” on the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
The government seems to turn a deaf ear to our request to have pensions of workers exempted from the programme which was launched recently as said by the spokesperson Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC).
In a press conference in Accra on Monday, December 19, he told has this to say to the journalist present. “We are asking government to exempt us from the debt exchange programme”.
“We have already told the world that if government doesn’t do that, we will advise ourselves. Today, we are here to announce the advice.
“The advice is very simple. We have all agreed that because the government has refused to grant our request, we have decided firmly that all workers of Ghana are going to strike on December 27, 2022, and we will be on strike until our demands are met.”
Ghanaian workers felt disappointed and promised to resist any attempt of the government to include them in the Debt Exchange Programme. This is evident in the fierce resistance from organised Labour since the introduction of the Programme on Monday, December 5.
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What is the Domestic Exchange Programme about
The Domestic Debt Exchange Programme will see domestic bondholders exchange instruments for new ones
The existing domestic bonds as of Thursday, December 1 to be exchanged a set of four (4) new ones which is said to mature in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037.
Why the Strike?
Majority if not all worker unions complained about governments decision which could see their members pension funds affected. They further stated that government failed to engage them before rolling out the policy. The policy is said to be postponed to Friday, December 30th over the controversies stirred.
The Organised labour just needed a confirmation and assurance from government that pension funds will not be affected but the government remained silent otherwise, refuse to come out clearly.
It is said that engagements still ongoing to make the Programme successful.
As it stands now, the government is also suspending the servicing of some external debts as a result of the deterioration of the economy, which has been taken to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for rescue.
All workers in Ghana are instructed by Organised Labour to stay away from work starting Tuesday, December 27 to send a signal to government about their stand. All workers in Ghana should only resume work when the decision of the government to exclude pensions from the programme is announced on the media.
Therefore, the strike is indefinite.
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