ICU rejoins TUC for May Day celebration

The Industrial and Commercial Union, (ICU) led by its General Secretary, Mr. Napoleon D.K. Kpoh will participate in this year’s May Day celebration following intense pressure from its members. Public Agenda has learnt that the ICU members have demanded that they be part of the national celebration on May 1 and will not be part of any counter May Day event. With pressure from the members, the ICU leadership had no option than to write a letter first, to the planners of the May Day celebrations and latter to the TUC asking to be part of this year’s celebration.The ICU members think that their participation in May Day celebration will mark the beginning of the restoration of relationship with the Ghana Trades Union Congress, (TUC), which is the umbrella for workers. In a letter dated 20th April to the TUC, the ICU provided two names of its representatives to serve on the committee planning the May Day event. Since 2004 when the ICU seceded from the TUC amidst media hype, it held its separate May Day celebrations separate from the TUC and other labour groups in the country. The ICU’s reason was that it was against the TUC’s decision to celebrate May Day jointly with opposing groups like the Textile, Garments and Leather Employees Union, (TEGLEU) and the Union of Industrial Commerce and Finance Workers, (UNICOF). ICU rejected TUC’s explanation that the joint celebration was to advance the broad unity of the labour movement. But the ICU did not take that kindly and went ahead not only to celebrate May Day alone, but also used the occasion to publicly denounce the TUC and its leadership. When ICU announced its disaffiliation from the TUC, analysts expressed worry that such divisions were not good for organized labour and the economic development of Ghana. This paper gathered that the leadership of the ICU led by its General Secretary, Mr. Napoleon D.K. Kpoh initially appealed to the Minister of Manpower Youth and Employment on the possibility of ICU joining the national May Day celebration. Due to this the TUC notified all its members which constitute the May Day Planning Committee about ICU’s intention to be part of the celebration. During a meeting on April 19, 2007, the Chief Director of the Ministry and his Special Assistant facilitated the meeting with four representatives from the ICU led by its General Secretary. After a lengthy discussion it was agreed that since the event is a workers’ solidarity day, ICU had the right to participate. The ICU, which was one of the 17 affiliates of the TUC, broke away from the TUC on June 11, 2004. Two major breakaways have occurred in the ICU since 1991 when the current General Secretary assumed office in 1991. The first one was in 1993 which resulted in the formation of Textile, Garments and Leather Employees Union, (TEGLEU). Efforts by the TUC to reintegrate TEGLEU into ICU did not yield fruits due to entrenched position of ICU. Internal conflicts in ICU in 1995 led to a court injunction that prevented one elective position from being contested for at the time of its conference in 1995. This continued and degenerated to the extent that by 1999 another court injunction prevented the conference from coming on. In 2003 when the ICU conference was finally convened after eight years, another breakaway occurred, leading to the formation of the Union of Industrial Commerce and Finance Workers, (UNICOF). During a media briefing on February 2, 2005, the Secretary-General of the TUC, Mr. Kwasi Adu-Amankwah stated that the Executive Board after due consideration of the ICU’s notice of disaffiliation and the history of ICU’s relationship with TUC it accepted the notice accordingly on July 2, 2004. “Given the history of ICU relations with Ghana TUC, as well as the ICU’s habit of finding scapegoats for what is clearly the union’s own problems, the Executive Board believes that it acted properly by accepting the ICU’s notice of disaffiliation from the Ghana TUC”, he stated.