Mr Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, Minister of Labour, Employment and Job Creation, has identified the creation of employment opportunities for every Ghanaian as his foremost priority and pledged to work with organised labour to address unemployment and improve workers’ welfare.
He said the Government had the capacity to significantly reduce unemployment by strengthening collaboration among the public sector, private sector and organised labour and creating opportunities across productive sectors of the economy.
Mr Agyekum made the commitment when he paid a courtesy visit to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Accra, where he engaged the leadership on employment, workers’ welfare, social dialogue, productivity and labour-related concerns.
He said Ghana did not necessarily need to reinvent solutions to its employment challenges but could learn from countries that had successfully used technology, industrial development and value-chain opportunities to create jobs.
“I strongly believe that, as government, we have what it takes to bring down unemployment in this country,” he said.
The Minister said virtually every product consumed in Ghana presented an opportunity for local production, employment creation and enterprise development if the country deliberately built the capacity to produce more of what it consumed.
He said his Ministry would therefore work to identify opportunities within the economy that could be leveraged to create decent and sustainable jobs for Ghanaians.
Mr Agyekum also assured the TUC that the Government would deepen engagement with organised labour and would not take decisions intended to undermine the labour movement.
He said effective dialogue between Government, employers and workers was essential to maintaining industrial peace and creating a productive economy.
“We are here to work with you as a labour union. We know we can work together to at least give labour the dignity that they deserve,” he said.
The Minister said concerns raised by the TUC, including wages, pensions and other workers’ welfare issues, would be considered through dialogue to find practical solutions.
On productivity, he said the Government would also ensure that discussions on workers’ welfare were balanced with efforts to measure and improve productivity.
“We have to measure productivity as well. In as much as we look at all these things, we have to measure productivity,” he said.
Mr Agyekum further gave an assurance that the Government would address concerns over the employment of persons with disabilities, particularly in the public sector.
He said he would engage the Minister of Education to explore opportunities to include qualified persons with disabilities in teacher recruitment.
The assurance followed concerns raised by the TUC about the failure to meet the Government’s commitment to reserve a proportion of public-sector employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
“We will definitely fix something for you. In fact, this is problematic and I have to make sure to get some people who are physically challenged to be employed,” he said.
Mr Agyekum asked the TUC to provide a list of qualified persons with disabilities who could benefit from the recruitment exercise, saying that would enable the Government to assess the situation and determine how best to address it.
He also pledged to advocate for the inclusion of a quota for persons with disabilities in employment and other relevant government programmes.
The Minister said he had a personal appreciation of the challenges confronting persons with disabilities and had previously advocated for improved accessibility and inclusion.
Earlier, the TUC leadership urged the Minister to strengthen social dialogue between Government and organised labour, particularly at the sectoral level.
The Congress said sectoral social dialogue was not sufficiently recognised in law and practice, making it difficult for organised labour to engage some public institutions on issues affecting workers.
It urged the Minister to ensure that ministries and government agencies regularly engaged organised labour as partners rather than treating the relationship as one between employer and subordinate.
The TUC also raised concerns about conditions in the mining sector, particularly employment protection, health and safety and the implementation of local content policies.
It cautioned that local content should not become a basis for exploitation or abuse of workers and called for stronger enforcement of labour protections in the sector.
The Congress further appealed to the Minister to support the ratification of outstanding International Labour Organisation conventions, including Convention 183 on maternity protection, Convention 190 on violence and harassment, and the convention on decent work in the platform economy.
The TUC also called for further discussions on replacing the existing minimum wage framework with a living wage that would better reflect workers’ cost of living and economic realities.
Mr Agyekum said the Government was prepared to engage organised labour on the living wage proposal and other concerns to reach a mutually acceptable position.
He reiterated that his Ministry would pursue collaboration with the TUC to promote decent work, employment creation, productivity and industrial harmony.
