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Public Utility Workers Union elect new
officers
Accra, April 3, GNA – The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU)
has elected Mr Ismail Ibrahim of Ghana Water Company Limited
(GWCL) as its new National Chairman at the end of its 9th
Quadrennial National Delegates Conference held in Kumasi.
Mr Joseph Kwadwo Bodau of State Housing Corporation and Ms
Edna Opoku- Boakye of GWCL were elected First and Second
National Vice Chairpersons, respectively.
Mr Worthy Jerry Addo was re-elected General Secretary with
Mr Ato Bondzie Quaye of Electricity Company of Ghana as
Deputy General Secretary, while Mr Richard Nyaaba of GWCL
and Ms Rebecca Quarshie of ECG were made First and Second
Trustees, respectively.
The Conference called for the fast-tracking of reforms in
the water sector to make for the efficient operation of the
Sector.
Mr Addo said some reform programmes of the utility services
suffered long delays as a result of the lack of political
will and financial resources and conditionalities of Donors
packaged as expert advice, which sometimes contradicted and
infringed upon deep-seated social norms.
He said one evolving challenge was the relegation of
workers’ and unions’ participation at the initial stages of
the restructuring process and questioned the motive for the
secrecy.
Mr Addo said when changes became necessary due to
weaknesses, non-performance and other negative occurrences
in an organisation the worker was painted as dishonest,
inefficient and incorrigible.
He said when the worker was ultimately transferred to a new
investor, contractor or partner he or she must have to
grapple with a new world of work with unfamiliar culture and
ended up stigmatized, adding that this sometimes breached
the harmonious relationship between the worker and the
employer.
The conference, which was held in Kumasi on March 22, 2007,
was under the theme: “Strengthening the Union to Meet the
Challenges of the Utility Sector and the Labour Law”.
Turning to the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651), Mr Addo said the
most fundamental challenge to the PUWU was the freedom for
two persons or more to form a union notwithstanding the
existence of a union for the same class of workers in the
same organisation.
He said this posed threat of a breakdown of workplace
solidarity that rendered the worker vulnerable.
Mr Addo warned that since members of PUWU were classified as
“essential service workers” any act that was “effected
during a lawful strike that causes harm or destruction can
be prosecuted criminally”.
He urged workers to stand united because “big Unions exude
power and are more resourceful” and said the most adaptable
would always survive.
GNA
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