Workers in the country‘s telecommunications industry have announced that they will be embarking on an indefinite nationwide strike from Monday, September 5, 2022.
The strike, declared by the executives of the Telecom
and IT Professionals Union, is to press home their demands for better conditions of service.
The members of the union include outsourced engineers, technicians, IT professionals, and other allied workers managing the technical operations of the three major telecom companies, MTN, Vodafone, and AirtelTigo.
A statement, signed and issued by the General Secretary of the Union, Israel Edem Agbegbor, said the telecom workers would withdraw their services until three key “non-negotiable demands” are met by their employers.
According to the statement, the union is demanding an “immediate recall of all targeted members of the union whose contracts had not been renewed by these employers by mere association with the union and other Union leaders who are part of the current joint standing negotiation committee and sub-committee negotiating the 2022 Collective Agreement and
salary increment.”
Also on demand is an “immediate payment of Golden handshake to all our members whose contracts have ended with Reliance and have not been renewed.”
Additionally, the union is demanding a “joint signing and submission of a letter to NLC referring to the salary negotiation and pending items in the 2022 Collective Agreement to compulsory or voluntary arbitration after over six weeks of declaring a deadlock.”
The statement said the union had duly notified the National Labour Commission, and their four
subcontract employers; Reliance Personnel Services Limited, Reime Ghana Limited, MP Infrastructure Ghana Limited and Linfra Ghana Limited, in a Notice of Strike, dated August 25, 2022.
The union said it had been forced to take such actions due to increasing incidents of victimisation of members, the lack of cooperation and commitment of their employers in addressing their outstanding demands.
“‘And since all attempts to get the cooperation of these employers have failed, we think it is time for action until the following non-negotiable conditions are met,” the statement said.
The union explained that the move was in response to their employers’ decision not to renew the contract of over 100 targeted members and executives across the National, Regional, and Branch levels.
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“These include representatives who are also part of the current Joint Standing Negotiation Committee or Sub-Committee negotiating the 2022 CA and salary increment with the employers which has hit a deadlock.”
