EMPLOYERS, WORKERS ADVISED TO RESPECT LABOUR ACT (PAGE 50)

THE acting Executive Director of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Mr Alex Frimpong, has called on employers and employees to respect the rules and regulations of the Labour Act and use them in settling industrial disputes.
This, he said, would reduce the spate of strikes and other industrial disputes, and promote economic stability and productivity and enhance the welfare of workers.
Speaking at a workshop on the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) in Koforidua, Mr Frimpong said “our ability to build strong labour-management relations could make Ghana a favourable investment destination”.
The two-day event, attended by 50 employers from the formal and informal sectors in the Eastern Region, was organised by the GEA and sponsored by Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC).
It was aimed at enhancing employers’ understanding and compliance with the Labour Act to enable them to interpret and apply it appropriately.
Mr Frimpong noted that inadequate knowledge of the Labour Act could adversely affect employer-employee relations that could result in low productivity and morale, as well as other industrial lockouts.
That, he said, could undermine efforts by the management of any establishment to build and sustain a vibrant business enterprise with high outputs.
“A successful business operates in a keen and dynamic environment where employer-employee relations remain the key to building sustainable enterprises, a situation that requires employers and employees to abide by provisions of the Labour Act”, he added.
He, therefore, encouraged employers and their employees to always follow laid down procedures for settling disputes without resorting to unilateral decisions or actions.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, noted that challenges facing enterprises in the 21st century required leaders with vision to strategically manage and utilise the limited and competitive resources at their disposal.
“One of the challenges that confront any private or public organisation is how to improve labour-management relations,” he said, adding that “the new labour law requires all of us to resolve our differences instead of resorting to confrontational stance to settle disputes”.
Mr Ampofo added that “labour-management relationship thrives on the principles of social justice, fairness and equity in the working environment”.