By: Bright Kofi Agamah
The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, ICU Ghana, has condemned the increasing appetite of employers in promoting precarious work, instead of decent work which is equal work for equal pay.
Precarious work, according to the ICU, tend to deny casual and temporary workers opportunities for personal development, medical facility, no future financial security like SSNIT and Provident Fund, and other pecuniary benefits like personal loan, rent advance, car loan which are enjoyed by their colleagues with regular or permanent status in the same organization.
The ICU-Ghana also noted that precarious work denies government tax revenue, since there are no tax deductions from such workers.
These are contained in a statement by the ICU to draw attention to the dangers of precarious work and the need to review the Labour Act, 2003, ACT 651, to reflect ideals of decent work.
The statement issued by the General Secretary, Morgan Ayawine, said in October each year, labour unions dedicate the month to expose the ills of precarious work being practiced by some employers under the guise of outsourcing.
The statement said, in some instances, after six months continuous work, people in precarious work get their employment terminated on the last day of the prescribed six-month period and re-engaged the following day.
The ICU therefore describes such practices which keep the casual status of the workers in perpetuity as unpatriotic and unjust.
The ICU says under ‘Precarious work’ the workers classified as “casual” and “temporary” suffer injustices, although they work for the same number of days, hours and do the same type of work that those classified as “regular” or “permanent” workers do. Also some of the precarious workers are not paid through the mainstream payroll, and are denied the Tier 1, 2 and 3 benefits, thus jeopardizing their future financial security. I
The union said this injustice is perpetrated by some employers in collusion with some private employment agencies. Their modus operandi, sometimes, is to convert and transfer the whole regular or permanent workers in a department or unit of an organization to the private employment agencies under the guise of ‘outsourcing’.
These private employment agencies then re-engage the workers into the same organization and tag them as “casual” or “temporary” workers.
Upon that, they collect huge sums of monies from the employers and pay a pittance to those unfortunate casual or temporary workers, in contravention of Section 74(2) of Act 651 .
These precarious workers are denied the privilege of joining trade unions for the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests as provided under Section 79(1) of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) and also against their constitutional right under Article 21 Clause(1)(e) of the 1992 Constitution.
The ICU, said employers found to be the culprits of this inhuman practice, take undue advantage of Section 74(1) and Section 75(1) of Act 651 to manipulate and skew the individual contractual agreements and thereby deny the casual or temporary workers ‘equal pay for equal work.
The ICU is therefore calling for a review of the Special Provisions Relating to Temporary Workers and Casual Workers of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), to reflect the ideals of ‘Decent Work, which are equal pay for equal work; opportunity for personal development, ensure future financial security of the workers, among others.
The statement urges the current Committee on amendment of the Labour Act, to passionately take into consideration the concerns by the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union ICU-Ghana.
It reminds the government, Employers and Trade Unions of their binding duty to safeguard the future financial security of Ghanaian workers including those in precarious work.