Mr Samuel Ransford Asiedu, a Labour Consultant, has reminded employers and employees that job vacations, commonly referred to as annual leaves, were mandatory rest periods.
He said any arrangement to waive such periods for one reason or another was therefore “void”.
Mr Asiedu was delivering a paper on “The Employment Relationships” at a two-day workshop for social partners in Ho, on the theme “Promoting Effective Labour-Management Co-operation and Effective Dispute Resolution at the Enterprise Level”.
It was organized by the National Labour Commission (NLM) and attended by unionists, employers and Human Resource officers.
Mr Asiedu suggested that employers instituted some financial packages as part of annual leave for employees to stop them from selling off their leave holidays.
He said workers had the right to training and re-training to reflect their positions and changing technologies relating to their job functions.
Mr Asiedu said disciplinary actions at workplaces must follow due procedures as laid down by agreements and not based on emotions.
Mr Asiedu said workers also had the duty to work conscientiously, protect the interest of the employer and report for work regularly and punctually.
Colonel Cyril Necku (Rtd), the Deputy Volta Regional Minister, said transparency by managements could keep workers’ demand within the capacities of their companies.
Professor Kofi Kumado, a Law Lecturer at the University of Ghana who spoke on contents of Collective Agreements, said it was important that both sides in negotiations were skilled and no side took the other for granted.
He observed that industrial harmony was important for development and therefore appealed to social partners such as the unions to help resource the NLC to be effective as it was obvious government alone could not provide the commission’s needs.
Prof Kumado said if the various commissions operating in Ghana such as the National Commission on Civic Education, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Electoral Commission and the National Media Commission had adequate funding, Ghana could be a democratic delight.
Mr Joseph Aryitey, Chairperson of the NLC, said it was important that stakeholders in industry knew their obligations and responsibilities as well as the procedures in dealing with labour issues.