Senior Technical Specialist, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Bureau for Worker Activities, Madam Inviolata Chinyangarara, has advised workers’ organisations to work with governments and employers to develop a conducive environment for social dialogue.
Madam Chinyangarara said working with governments and employers would ensure there was qualitative and meaningful social dialogue based on trust and respect for their rights and independence.
She gave the advice in a goodwill message at a two-day capacity-building organised by the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) in Tema with support from the ILO on the theme: “Innovative Strategies for Organising Workers in the New World of Work.”
She said for unions to contribute to building stronger, more sustainable, and equal economies and societies, they must continue to exercise leadership, demonstrate relevance, and provide quality services to current and new members.
She noted that a pre-requisite for any trade union’s success was the existence of an organisational socio-economic vision and strategic response for addressing the changes in the world of work, society, and the economy.
Madam Chinyangarara stated the world of work was changing at a very rapid pace, as there was the decline of jobs in manufacturing, the rise of non-standard and flexible work, persistence and growth of the informal economy, changes in employment regulations and the limitation and violation of trade union rights have caused unionisation rates to fall in most countries worldwide.
She said increased precarious work and other forms of non-standard employment as declining solidarity with vulnerable groups of workers such as migrants and workers in the informal economy were some of the challenges to work on with stakeholders.
She noted that the digital economy and the way it was transforming jobs and employment relationships and the social divide between workers with stable, paying jobs and workers with unstable, poorly paid, or precarious jobs, or no job at all, had its effect on trade unionisation.
She observed that the COVID-19 pandemic had added a new sense of urgency to the challenges facing workers’ organisations to respond to transformations in the world of work driven by globalisation and by demographic, environmental and technological changes, as well as to play a crucial role in crisis mitigation, response, and recovery.
She commended the GFL for developing a strategic plan for 2023-2026 which would serve as a guiding framework for responding to these and other challenges faced by workers and their organisations in the new world of work.
She said in that context, the ILO was collaborating with the GFL and its affiliates to place particular emphasis on strengthening the institutional capacity of the GFL to develop forward-looking solutions to sustain and improve operations.
She said it also seeks to reinforce its representative leadership, and advocacy roles, while renewing membership strategies, service provision and delivery mechanisms, as well as enhancing policy advocacy and influence.
Madam Chinyangarara indicated that the ILO focus in the 2022-23 biennium was anchored around supporting the efforts of organisations such as the GFL to bolster their capacity to analyse and understand the new realities in the world of work.
It is also to strengthen their own institutional and organisational processes and adopt innovative strategies for organising and servicing new and existing members, especially in the new context brought about by the crisis.
She said to propel discussions on trade union renewal and revitalisation, the ILO ACTRAV produced materials addressing the trade union challenges, opportunities and prospects for remaining relevant, effective, and influential organisations in the future.
Mr Abraham Koomson, GFL Secretary-General, said, “The labour movement had a responsibility to compel government to do the needful to create a congenial business environment for industries to thrive and be able to retain employees and expand.”
He said companies were faced with clear and pressing threats both globally and internally as a result of bad government economic policies and a lack of commitment to promote the growth of local industries.
Source: GNA