Employers have been called on to respect the rights of workers and allow them to enjoy public holidays or pay for extra hours in lieu of them.

Mr Fuseini Alhassan, Northern Regional Labour Officer, who made the call, emphasised that "Domestic workers also have rights and responsibilities, and employers need to allow them to also enjoy public holidays, and if their work is necessary and they have to work on public holidays, then, they must be paid for the extra hours."

Making a presentation on the Domestic Workers Regulation at a training workshop in Tamale for employers on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 189 and C190.

The training was to educate about 55 employers drawn from the Northern Region on the new ILO Convention C190 and the Domestic Workers Regulation to enable them to contribute towards the campaign for the Ghana Government to ratify the ILO C190.

It also formed part of the Zero Violence project being implemented in partnership with Frontline Aids and ActionAid United Kingdom (UK) and ActionAid Ghana with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK Government.

The project seeks to promote access to decent work and increase the awareness of employers and employees on the ILO Convention C190, and the Domestic Workers Regulation to ensure cordiality at workplaces.

The Domestic Workers Regulation (Legislative Instrument LI 2408), which was passed in June 2020, is in line with ILO C189, which seeks to address issues of domestic workers so that they will have their freedoms, and also to check on child labour while C190, which was adopted in 2019, and yet to be ratified by the Ghanaian Government, deals with issues of violence and harassment at workplaces.

Mr Alhassan said the domestic workers' sector was dominated by vulnerable people, whose rights were sometimes, trampled upon by their employers, hence, the Domestic Workers Regulation (LI2408) to streamline the sector for benefit of all.

He said domestic workers had rights and responsibilities and called on employers to respect the provisions of the Domestic Workers Regulation by giving contracts of employment to domestic workers, which would spell out their conditions of service to safeguard their rights.

Mr Bibariwiah Godwin Fuoh, Tamale Metropolitan Labour Officer, who made a presentation on ILO C190, advised employers to take the provisions of the ILO C190 seriously to avoid issues of violence and harassment at workplaces.

Mr Cosmos Alhassan, Chairman of Hoteliers Association, Northern Region, lauded the training, saying, it would ensure peace at workplaces, which was necessary for improved productivity and earnings for workers and employers.

Madam Alia Mumuni, Project Officer at ActionAid Ghana, Northern Region Team, commended participants for their active participation during the training, saying, their assurances to respect the provisions of the ILO C190 and Domestic Workers Regulation were refreshing.

Meanwhile, similar training will be organised for selected employees in the region.