THE General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) under the Decent Work in the Fishing Sector and Trades Union Development and Advocacy (DTDA) Project is helping the players in the fisheries sector to unionise.

To this end, GAWU has organised a day’s conference for members of the National Fishers Association in preparation for the unionisation.

Opening the conference in Accra yesterday, the General Secretary of GAWU, Andrews A. Tagoe, said the move was to help the Association to have strong bargaining power to improve their welfare.

According to him, the fisheries sector remained a critical pillar in the country’s economy, contributing significantly to food security, employment, livelihoods, and cultural identity, particularly within the coastal and inland fishing communities.

The General Secretary stated that the thousands of workers were engaged in the fisheries value chain, including artisans and industrial fishing, fish processing, trading, and allied services but were not unionised.

He indicated that despite its importance, the sector continued to face serious sustainability challenges such as overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, environmental degradation, climate change impacts, unsafe working conditions, informality, child labour, forced labour, and weak enforcement of labour standards as decent work deficits persist in the sector.

Mr Tagoe noted that many fishers and fish workers experience violations and abuse of their rights at work, including restrictions, discrimination, child and forced labour. Those challenges, he explained, not only undermined human dignity and social justice, but also the long-term sustainability of fisheries resources and fishing communities.

The General Secretary stated that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW) provided a globally recognised framework for promoting decent work, social justice, and inclusive development.

“Therefore, integrating these principles into fisheries governance and practice was essential for achieving sustainable fisheries that are socially responsible, economically sound,” he added.

Mr Tagoe said it was against that background that GAWU, through the DTDA Project, sought to promote sustainable fisheries by advancing the application of the ILO FPRW within the fisheries sector, which was enshrined in the declaration on fundamental principles and Rights at Work based on the four core principles and five fundamental rights.

The principles, Mr Tagoe mentioned, included the freedom of association, effective recognition of the rights to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced labour, abolition of child labour, and respect of employment and occupation safety, health, and environment.

The Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana, Joshua Ansah, said TUC-Ghana supported the unionisation of workers in the fishing sector.

He, therefore, appealed to members of the National Fishers Association to join GAWU so they could negotiate for better conditions of service, including pensions to support their members when they retired.

The conference, with the theme, “Enhancing Sustainable Fisheries through the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work,” attracted over 50 participants from Kpando, Abotoase, Keta, Aveme, Kpando, and others from the Central and Greater Accra Region.

Topics treated included Sustainable Fisheries, Decent Work and Blue Economy, ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Social Organisations of Women in Fisheries, Child Labour and Trafficking, and Organising, Protecting and Empowering Fishers.