The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, ICU, Morgan Ayawine, who said this, also urged Management in organisations, to adhere to the provisions in Collective Agreements and the Labour Act, 2003, Act 651, in furtherance of harmonious relations at the workplace.

Mr. Ayawine, was speaking in Accra, at the Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference of the ICU Local Union of Absa Bank Ghana. The event was also used to swear in new local executives.      

The ICU General Secretary said, to avoid past mistakes and pre-empt recurring challenges in Union- Management relationship, it is important for Union leaders to tap into the experiences of their predecessors, for lessons to guide their relationship with social partners that would impact positively on organizational goals.

Mr. Ayawine said the theme for the conference: “The Bank’s Sustainability, The Union’s Concern” suggests, the essence and relevance of unions at the workplace, where increased productivity and maximization of profit for the sustainability of the business that would inure to the mutual benefit of the owners of the business and the workers whose sweat produced the profit.

The ICU General Secretary indicated that the theme for the Conference could not have been more appropriate and relevant, considering the new world of work brought about by the emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Mr. Ayawine said the world of work has advanced into an era of Industrial Democracy and, as such, Capital and Labour have become Equal Partners.

According to him, it is important that one party in the equation cannot and should not impose itself over the other in an equal relationship, but both must collaborate on equal terms, in an atmosphere of give and take, for sustainable industrial peace, harmony and progress at the workplace. He charged the new executives of ICU-Ghana Local Union of Absa Bank Ghana, to exhibit leadership in influencing Union-Management relationship positively.

The New executives are Chairman Daniel Osei Adane, Vice Chairman William Aboagye, Secretary Antwi Twum Barimah, Assistant Secretary Grace Bernice Nkrumah, First Trustee Kwabena Owusu Bempah and Second Trustee Kwadwo Barimah. The rest are Executive Member Stephen Yirenkye, Women’s Representative Stella Baaba Baah and Youth Representative Kwabena Ohemeng.

Members of the new local executives were sworn into office by the Deputy ICU General Secretary in charge of Operations, Emmanuel Benimah. Among those who witnessed the event were the Deputy ICU General Secretary in Charge of Administration, Samuel Ananga and the ICU Chief Industrial Relations Officer, Maarku Vondee.