A section of the labour movement in Ghana has not taken lightly to the assertion in the 2009 Global Competiveness Index that it is still expensive to hire and fire labour in Ghana.
The report ranked Ghana high (65 out 100, {100 being the poorest score}) on the rigidity of employment index, and further ranked Ghana 93 out of 134 countries on the hiring and firing index.
Overall, the report's verdict was that it is still costly to hire and fire labour in Ghana. Ghana was also ranked low on education and training of its manpower.But the labour movement has a different view to this assertion.
According to one labour expert and advocate, Mr. Abraham Koomson, Ghanaians have a field day to hire and fire because Ghana has not yet ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 158.
The Convention provides that the termination of employment at the instance of the employers must be backed by valid reasons. Article 4 states, "The employment of a worker shall not be terminated unless there is a valid reason for such termination connected with the capacity or conduct of the worker or based on the operational requirements of the undertaking, establishment or service."
Mr. Koomson, who is the General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), argues that the ease with which employers hire and fire may be due to the fact that the courts depend largely on 'common law' to deal with cases of dismissal. "At the moment the Common Law is being applied all the time. Until Ghana ratifies Convention 158, hiring and firing will go on. It is the law which is creating problems for us."
He blamed poor labour-employer relations Ghana scored 4.2 and ranked 98. on employers. Mr. Koomson attributed this to the failure of some employers to employ qualified human resource managers (HRM) to moderate industrial relations between employers and employees.
He argued that, "No competent HRM would advise management to drag trivial issues such mere indiscipline to the level of a high court."He said that many employers rely on lawyers on issues of industrial relations, and that even though about 99% of the lawyers may be qualified legal practitioners, they do not know industrial relations and always drag the cases so they can make more money.
He pointed out that many of the lawyers have not specialized in industrial relations so employers end up spending much on labour management if labour-employer partnership is not handled well.
"I agree that lawyers should make a living, but it should be on litigants and not on industrial relations. Labour- employer relations is like that of a husband and wife. Except instances of domestic violence, even the Family Tribunal finds a way to mediate and not go strictly by conventional law."
He said thankfully the Labour Act has been passed by government which if applied ensures there is industrial harmony.
He deduced that workers and employers need each other to succeed, so if this partnership is not handled well and lawyers are allowed to come in a lot of money and time is spent.
"If it is not a family business you go into but need the services of workers then you must consider their interest as well." He said that contrary to the belief by employers that labour in Ghana is costly, it is their own making. "They create unnecessary cost for themselves because
many of them do not have qualified HRM to apply disciplinary measures to ensure efficiency."
According to the labour expert, no developing country can compete in terms of efficiency because the manufacturing sector is labour intensive, unlike developed countries where it is capital intensive.
He observed that the same people go to Europe and are able to perform well; therefore it is largely due to the environment in which we operate.
"It is not that labour is not well trained but obsolete machinery is a factor. If much technology is applied so many people will be thrown out of job even though productivity will be high."
Mr. Koomson explained that competitiveness involves so many things such as labour inspection so the problem cannot be pushed to the doorstep of the worker.
He said workers must be supervised, targets should be set for them to meet and those who fail must be disciplined.
He alleged that some managers themselves should know what they are about because wherever, be it Asia or America if workers are not given targets they will relax.
"Under the Act, the inspectorate section of the National Labour Department is supposed to carry out labour inspection to secure the enforcement of Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) to ensure that the provision of the Labour Act relating to efficiency and high productivity is enforced. But they are not able to do this and claim no resources."
The rigidity of employment index measures the regulation of employment. It ranges from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating more rigid regulations. Ghana ranked 65 and scored 37.0. Mr. Koomson stressed that there are no jobs and a lot of people are rushing to do the few available.
He said the programmes run in schools are another issue, wondering, "We train unemployable so where do you want them to go?"He said there is the need for the state to make provisions for those who want to go into entrepreneurship. "Where are we going if we can't go beyond our borders and we continue to multiply almost every year? The current sluggish performance of the economy suggests that the high population growth rate implies potentially worsening situation," he cautioned.
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