Mr Vincent Ofosu Asamoah, Executive Secretary of the NLC, speaking at the third delegates congress of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) in Tema, stressed that “you don’t have to apply force, you have to apply a lot of tact, else the very workers whom you are seeking to protect, might end up losing their jobs”.

Mr Asamoah added that in trying to advocate for what workers believed was their right, if they did not do so within the requirements of law, they might end up infringing the very law under which they were seeking those rights.

“I want to recap that the days of union militancy are over and it is now replaced with social partnership where agreements and even disagreements must be reached through dialogue, not threats and intimidations”.

He reminded unionists to bear in mind that, there already existed a worker-management relationship before the entering of unions, therefore their involvement must be aimed at improving the existing relationship instead of worsening or destroying it.

This, he said could be achieved through mutual respect for the rights and responsibilities of employers as he likened trade union to a marketer who had a product to market. He advised that instead of labour unions being aggressive, they must cultivate the habit of getting employers to appreciate the importance of such a partnership through nurturing the relationship.

Mr Asamoah stated that it was vital in today’s practice of labour-management relations, for the parties to engage in effective collective bargaining premised on good faith in all matters relating to employment and non-employment issues.

Mr Joshua Ansah, Deputy Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), called on organized union and other stakeholders to come up with a time frame for the implementation of a living wage for workers as according to him Ghana’s minimum wage did could not last the employee two weeks.

Mr Ansah also urged unionists to read about the Continental Trade Policy which he revealed Ghana had signed without knowing what it contained and the refusal of Nigeria to sign. He charged Unions to look for the document on the policy, read, understand and know its expected impact on workers and raise the necessary issues with government as according to him, failure to do so could worsen the country’s textile industries as they could not compete favourably with international companies.

Mr Abraham Koomson, Secretary General of the GFL, in a welcoming address, recounted the circumstances leading to the formation of the GFL, its aims and vision and called for collaboration among the various unions to properly champion the issues of workers.

The congress was on the theme: “Asserting Relevance of Labour Unions in the 21st Century – GFL Focus. ”