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Organized labour has called off its intended strike which was slated for December 27, 2022.
This industrial action was to demand the exemption of pension funds of its workers in the ongoing debt exchange program.
Despite assurances of protecting the funds of citizenry, various labour unions were concerned about the impact the debt exchange will have on pension funds.
But after a crunch meeting with Organised Labour on Thursday, December 22, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, gave utmost assurances that pensions of all workers will be exempt from the Programme.
At a press conference, General Secretary for Trade Unions Congress (TUC), Dr Yaw Baah said the decision to call off the strike follows the consensus reached with government.
“We are pleased that after a very extensive engagement with government, it has now exempted all pension funds from the domestic exchange program. We have now signed an MoU. We thank government for listening to us. So, on the 27th of December, no body should stay at home because our demands and conditions have been met. So we are all going to work. No one should stay home.”
At a press conference in Accra on Monday, December 19 the organised labour declared intended strike if government do not exempt labour unions pension funds from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme
“We have already told the world that if government doesn’t do that, we will advise ourselves. Today, we are here to announce the advice.
“The advice is very simple. We have all agreed that because the government has refused to grant our request, we have decided firmly that all workers of Ghana are going to strike on December 27, 2022, and we will be on strike until our demands are met.”
Government’s introduction of the Programme on Monday, December 5 has been met with stiff resistance from Organised Labour.
Most of the worker unions point out that government did not engage them before rolling out the policy, whose implementation date has been moved to Friday, December 30 over the controversies stirred.
Under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, domestic bondholders will be asked to exchange their instruments for new ones.
Existing domestic bonds as of Thursday, December 1 will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037.
The annual coupon on all of those bonds will be set at 0% in 2023, 5% in 2024 and 10% from 2025 until maturity with coupon payments done semiannually.
Organised labour has demanded assurances from government that pensions will not be affected but it has remained silent on this.
Engagements are said to be ongoing to make the Programme successful.
Already, government is also suspending the servicing of some external debts due to the deterioration of the economy, which has been taken to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for rescue.
By uniquenewsgh.com
