Concerned staff of the Labour Department of Ghana have staged a protest.
They have opposed a decision of the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to relocate the Ministry to a new headquarters under construction meant for the Labour Department.
“A project that has been put in place by the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, decided that they will put up a new head office for us, redevelop the old one. Now this project has run its course and we are hearing that the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah has decided that the Ministry will move into our new building. This is not fair; we do not accept it.
We started this by sending a petition to the World Bank and a petition to the Minister himself. We want him to advice himself on the decision that he has taken. Labour Department will no longer be silenced, we will no longer be quiet, now we have a voice and enough is enough. We are hearing rumours that he said we should move into the Ministry’s building. We will not move today or tomorrow; we are staying here, and we are saying that we want our new building.” Rhodalyn Amaning, Senior Labour Officer said.
Frustrated, and disturbed, the staff of the Labour Department voiced their displeasure emphasizing the poor working conditions they endured in their previous office.
“When we’re working with rats in the old building. I took a colleague there and he asked me whether it is a stable. We have worked under a poor structure not to talk of working condition. The structure was very bad, they couldn’t come for that structure. You came to us to tell us that you have secured a loan to construct a building, we had discussions here and there and we were moved to this place, why do you want to shortchange us.” Robert Ntow, Principal Labour Officer also added his voice.
“Our rent for this particular structure will end 30th of this month so from September 30, we will not have a place, so at least we should begin moving out. 14th of August this year we were locked out from our temporary office because we had not paid our rent.” Hussein Amadu, Senior Labour officer also stated.
The headquarters that stood as a pillar of labour administration over the years, has deteriorated significantly, exposing the staff, clients and other users to safety risks.
Engaging with the labour officers, they explained that the old building was demolished for the purpose of redeveloping the space to create a modern, and accessible facility especially for persons with disabilities and for labour services. However, their sector minister rather wants his ministry to relocate there.
As an institution dedicated to enforcing labour laws and safeguarding workers right, the labour department urged all stakeholders to unite and support their call for the Minister to rescind his decision.
“We want Ghanaians to rally behind us, we want civil society groups to rally behind us, we want trade unions to rally behind us and we want the media to rally behind us. Everybody has to come together and fight this. That new building and edifice belongs to the people of Ghana, it belongs to the Labour Department. The land on which the building is, belongs to the Labour Department. We will not allow our land, our institutional land since 1942 to go over to the Ministry,” the spokesperson stated.
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