Energy Minister, Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko has assured workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) that they will not lose their jobs under the 20-year concessional agreement.
He said Government has now secured an agreement with the concessionaires not to lay off any workers in the entire 20-year period of the concessional agreement.
Some Staff of ECG, have been protesting an agreement which would see the state-owned company handed over to a private manager for the next 25 years. When attempts to prevent the deal failed last year, workers are now demanding redundancy packages ahead of the implementation of the concessional agreement.
Ghana will receive $469,300,000 with a new management for ECG under the new Millenium Challenge Power Compact agreement programme. The aim of the Ghana Power Compact is to create a financially viable power sector to meet the current and future needs of households and businesses, and to help fight poverty across the country.
Eastern Region Chair of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) Abraham Lincoln says the government has every right to continue any policy started by the previous government, including the concessional agreement under which ECG is being handed to a private company to manage.
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He, however, argued that the government must first pay workers of the existing company their redundancy package.
Quoting Section 65 (2) of the Labour Act, he said if they are going to be put on secondment for the next 20 years under a new company then they deserve a redundancy package with the old company which is ECG.
In response to the concerns raised, the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko who was speaking at a press briefing said the workers can only legitimately claim a redundancy package if they are leaving the company.
But as long as they are still employed by ECG even under the new management, they cannot have any compensation paid to them.
He added that workers are at liberty to leave if they want but they cannot have an expectation that they will have a job in the new company.
He said the government considered the concerns of the workers and reviewed the period of the concession from 25 to 20 years, thus securing their jobs for the whole period.
Read also:Â Â PUWUÂ protest: ECG workers demand redundancy pay
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