Telecom Workers Threaten To Strike

Ghana’s telecommunications system will be left on autopilot as telecom workers embark on an indefinite nationwide strike from Monday 5th September 2022.

Thy are demanding that certain conditions be met before they can rescind their decision.

In a Press Statement, the Group is demanding immediate recall of all targeted members of TIP whose contracts have not been renewed by the 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 CA and salary increment.

It also called for the immediate payment of Golden handshake to all TIP members whose contracts have ended with Reliance and have not been renewed and cooperation from the employers to jointly sign and submit a letter to NLC referring to the pending items in the 2022 CA negotiation and the 2022 salary increment negotiation that we have declared a deadlock on.

Read full statement below:

Ghana’s telecommunications system will be left on autopilot as telecom workers embark on an indefinite nationwide strike from Monday 5th September 2022, until the following non-negotiable demands are met by their employers:

1. Immediate recall of all targeted members of TIP whose contracts have not been renewed by the 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 CA and salary increment.

2. Immediate payment of Golden handshake to all TIP members whose contracts have ended with Reliance and have not been renewed.

3. Cooperation from the employers to jointly sign and submit a letter to NLC referring to the pending items in the 2022 CA negotiation and the 2022 salary increment negotiation that we have declared a deadlock on.
1. Immediate recall of all targeted members of TIP whose contracts have not been renewed by the 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 CA and salary increment.

2. Immediate payment of Golden handshake to all TIP members whose contracts have ended with Reliance and have not been renewed.

3. Cooperation from the employers to jointly sign and submit a letter to NLC referring to the pending items in the 2022 CA negotiation and the 2022 salary increment negotiation that we have declared a deadlock on.

The Telecom and IT Professionals Union (TIP), made up of telecom engineers, technicians, I.T professionals and other allied workers, who manage the key technical operations for the telecom operators, has served notice to the National Labour Commission (NLC) and their employers to embark on strike action in response to the direct attack by the employers at the leadership of the Union (From National, Regional and Branch) that has threatened the very
existence of the Union and its members.

The move by the Union is in response to employers’ decision not to renew the contract of targeted members of TIP and Executives across the National, Regional and Branch levels.

These reps are also part of the current Joint Standing Negotiation Committee or Sub-Committee negotiating the 2022 CA and salary increment with the employer which has reached a deadlock.

According to the Union, these four employers; Linfra Ghana Limited, MP Infrastructure Ghana Limited, Reime Ghana Limited and Reliance Personal Services who are subcontractors and employment agencies of Huawei Technologies on the managed service operations of MTN, Vodafone and AirtelTigo, have refused to sign a joint letter with the Union to refer to the pending issues that all parties have declared deadlock on since July 2022. The pending items
are as follows:
a. Determination of the Principal employer and the role of the principal employer in the
employment relationship.
b. Provisions to re-negotiate to restore equilibrium in the CA.
c. Severance.
d. Professional Subscription Fees.
e. Workload and Working Tools (Laptops, Mobile phones, Data bundle and airtime and
Pickup vehicles).
f. Proposed Forty-five (45%) salary increment for 2022.

In a letter dated 10th of August 2022, the Union reported the deliberate delay and refusal by the employers to sign the joint letter and the targeting of key Union members and reps for non-contract renewal to the NLC and appealed to NLC to intervene. In another separate letter, the Union gave the employers up to 26th of August 2022 to pay all
entitlement including the Golden handshake due to all the affected workers whose contract would end on 31st of August 2022 but would not be renewed, and an appeal to the NLC to:

1. Proceed to court to enforce its arbitration award of 19 March 2020 on Golden handshake and subsequent directives and rulings to the employer to comply which they have refused, in accordance with section 172 of the labour law 2003, Act 651.

2. Place perpetual injunction on the execution of the current notice of non-contract renewal by Reliance to all Union members until all that is due to the workers is paid in full.

3. A perpetual injunction on Linfra Ghana Limited, MPI Ghana Limited and Reime Ghana as principal employers not to advertise or replace these workers currently outsourced to them through Reliance Personnel Services Limited until this matter is settled by the NLC.

4. An Injunction on the current principal employers of Reliance workers namely, Linfra Ghana Limited, Reime Ghana Limited, MPI Ghana Limited and Huawei Technologies not to replace any of these workers outsourced or directly engaged from Reliance Personnel Services Limited, who are members of the Union from their positions until the 2022 CA negotiation has been concluded and signed.

5. An injunction on further termination of all Reliance Staff outsourced to these principal employers until this matter pending with NLC since 2021 is fully settled and all entitlement fully paid to the workers.

In NLC’s letter of response to the Union dated 12th of August 2022, the NLC directed ONLY the Union to Stay any intended action on the 2nd of September 2022 but fail to direct the employer to do same with regards to the non-contract renewal of over 100 Union members and targeted executives.

Clearly, we are left on our own to take the necessary ACTION to deal with these unfair labour practices and conduct that threatens the very existence of the Union from the same employer mandated by law to protect the interest of their workers which includes the right and freedom of association.

Source: newsghana.com.gh