[ 2019-03-06 ]

Make Labour Law beneficial to workers in informal sector
Speakers at a workshop organised to sensitise
workers of the informal sector to the Labour Law,
have emphasised the need to make the law
beneficial to workers in that sector.

According to them, many people, especially, women
in the informal sector, worked under very abusive
and unfair conditions and were also ignorant of
their rights.

The speakers were the Minister of Gender, Children
and Social Protection (MOGCSP), Mrs Cynthia
Morrison, a Labour Consultant, Mr Seth Abloso and
the Programme Officer at the Gender Centre for
Empowering Development (GenCED), Ms Elorm Atakil.

The workshop, organised by GenCED, in
collaboration with the MOGCSP, formed part of the
celebration of this year’s International
Women’s Day, which is marked on March 8,
every year.

The workshop was held to educate workers in the
informal sector such as hairdressers, beauticians,
seamstresses and artisans on the Labour Law and to
help deepen their knowledge and understanding of
the Labour Act 2003, as well as women’s
rights at the workplace.

What the law says

Mr Abloso said the informal sector covered more
than 80 per cent of the workforce, yet the labour
laws were silent on them.

Nonetheless, he indicated that the labour laws
made provisions for the rights of workers which
included those in the informal sector, which was
the main employer in Ghana, providing income for
many people.

Therefore, he said the workforce in the sector
needed to be educated on their rights to enable
them access them through the operations of
associations and organisations.

Mr Abloso stated that, the lack of regulation for
the informal sector, had led to the violation of
rights, including overtime duties which were not
paid by employers.

Educating the participants on some of the
provisions of the Labour Law, Mr Abloso said,
workers of the informal sector were to work for
eight hours, like those in the formal sector, were
entitled to a minimum annual leave of two weeks,
and social security.

In the case of pregnant women in the informal
sector, he said, workers and apprentices had the
right to work till their time was due for
maternity leave, and were not to be transferred if
the pregnancy was four months old.

In addition, Mr Abloso said these provisions
applied to domestic workers, and urged them to
demand for their rights.

He further explained that since the market place
served as workplace for people, mostly women, they
had the right to a safe and healthy environment at
the market.

For instance, he said, there should be space and
access for ambulance and fire tenders to move in
and out of the market.

Treat workers right

Mrs Morrison urged the owners of small and medium
scale businesses including hairdressers,
seamstress and artisans, to treat their workers
and apprentices well and follow the labour laws in
that respect.

She expressed concern about how some owners of
these small and medium scale businesses abused
their workers by making them work for longer
hours, saying “you have to treat your
apprentices and workers right so that they can be
good to you”.

She said similar training would be held across the
country to educate workers, business owners and
apprentices on their labour rights.

The purpose

For her part, Ms Atakil said education and
sensitisation to the labour law, was very low and
a number of people were not aware of the existence
of the National Labour Commission created by the
Labour Act to address violations at the workplace,
both in the formal and in the informal sector.

Due to the fact that the informal sector was
largely not supervised and sometimes untaxed, she
said they were often not included or regarded
“in the labour conversation”, saying,
it was for this reason that the GenCED was
collaborating with the MOGCSP to embark on
sensitisation and education on the Labour Law for
some workers in the informal sector.

Source - Graphic

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