Aboadze (W/R), May 1, GNA – Nineteen workers were on Monday honoured by the Western Regional Trades Union Congress (TUC) for their service to their various unions at this year’s May Day Parade at Aboadze, near Takoradi.
Among those presented with awards were Miss Grace Gabrah of the Local Government Workers Union, Miss Georgina Fletcher of the Timber and Wood Workers Union and Miss Faustina Asomaning of the Public Services Workers Union.
The awards included ghetto blasters and televisions sets. Organisations that took part in the parade included Ghana Prime Wood Products Limited, Ghana Commercial Bank, State Housing Company, Ghana Highway Authority and the Electricity Company of Ghana. The rest were Du Paul Wood Treatment, Ghana Water Company, Railway Workers Union, Twin-City Radio, the Judiciary Service Workers Association and the TUC Vocational Institute. Addressing the parade, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, asked workers to see the country, as their own and put in more effort to salvage it.
Mr Aidoo said the era when workers reported to work only to sign their names and leave to do other things must be seen as things of the past. He said, “Workers must see the evil in working lotto during office hours and stop aiding people to cheat the state”. Mr Aidoo said, “Monitory policies forced on us by multinational companies and financial institutions failed, because these institutions did not take into consideration the peculiar problems of the country”. He said it was only the people themselves, who could make good and informed decisions for themselves, adding, “We must, therefore, all work together to achieve what we want the future direction of our nation to be”.
Mr Aidoo said developing countries needed more than debt cancellation from the developed countries that must assist them to stand on their own. He said the unfavourable terms of trade at the international arena must be looked at critically and Africa must be given her fair share in terms of trade.
Mr Aidoo said unjust trade terms and the dumping of shoddy low cost goods on local industries were unacceptable. Mr Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Chief Executives, urged workers to co-operate with the government to transform Ghana into a middle-income country by 2010. He said to attain this feat, the economy would need to grow between 8 per cent and 10 per cent instead of the current pattern of 4 per cent to 6 per cent.
Mr Nkrumah said this was a challenge, which both government and organised labour must embrace in the spirit of mutual interest. Mr Jonathan Cobbina Frimpong-Manso, acting Regional Secretary of TUC, read the address of the Secretary-General of the TUC. He called on the government to consider the plight of workers, when formulating economic policies. Mr Frimpong-Manso said the government could do this by involving various stakeholders in the formulation of the policies.
Source: GhanaWeb
