The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU-Ghana), Morgan Ayawine, has conveyed warm X’mas greetings on behalf of the leadership, management and staff to all members of ICU-Ghana.
The message, released in Accra and signed by the General Secretary, reads: “It goes without saying that the year 2023 has been fraught with dire economic vagaries, ranging from hyper-inflation to the high lending rates endangering economic down turn in the country; thus, adversely affecting the real income of workers and drastically reducing their purchasing power.
“This situation has left both workers and the citizenry in social and economic hardship. Admittedly, economic downturn and its negative ramification from businesses has caused attrition in sustainable employment and hampered new jobs creation, hence, exacerbating the already precarious and unemployment situation and increasing the dependency rate and poverty levels in the country.”
The General Secretary went on to say, nevertheless, that hope is not lost. “We will, therefore, like to use this occasion to encourage and urge government to take pragmatic measures to reverse the harsh economic situation currently plaguing the country and bring requisite economic relief to the good people of Ghana.
The statement further went on to say at the same time that we must commend the government for taking steps to bail out some distressed state-owned enterprises (SOEs), especially the National Investment Bank (NIB) upon the appeal by ICU-Ghana, to empower them by their traditional roles in the economy to help grow and develop the national economy.
For our social partners, we wish to appreciate and express our gratitude to the good employers for their understanding and effective collaboration with the union for sustainable employment which brought about increased productivity and business profitability for economic progress.
However, to the other employers who are bent on pushing the agenda of outsourcing and casualisation of jobs to destroy sustainable employment and to amass abnormal profits; thus jeopardising the future financial security of workers are cautioned to refrain from that and conform with the labour laws of the country.
To the gallant workers who are the pivot of growth and development of the economy, I urge all of you to work harder in your efforts despite the current economic downturn until we win the ‘war’ over factors militating against the full recovery of businesses and economic prosperity of the nation’s workforce. On this note, I salute all workers and our social partners and their families. Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year.
