TIG Post

Tag: industrial action

  • Political play in power cuts hindering industrial growth AGI

    Political play in power cuts hindering industrial growth AGI


    The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has expressed concern over the politicization of power outages in the country, emphasizing the need for a swift national consensus to address challenges in the energy sector.

    AGI decried the labeling of intermittent power cuts as ‘dumsor,’ stating it hampers Ghana’s industrialization efforts. Mr. Kwame Jantuah, Chairman of the Oil and Gas sector at AGI, stressed the importance of electricity as a crucial engine for industrial growth, urging for a non-political approach.

    Speaking at a policy dialogue during World Sustainable Energy Day in Accra, Mr. Jantuah emphasized the significance of treating energy as a national discussion rather than a political issue. He called for political leaders to engage in dialogue and reach agreements for the benefit of the nation.

    In response to recent outages, AGI urged the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to provide a timetable for consumer planning. Mr. Jantuah emphasized the need to move beyond politics and focus on effective governance to address energy sector challenges.

    He called on Members of Parliament to lead efforts for a national consensus to address bottlenecks in the energy sector, supporting industrialization, economic growth, and sustainability. Mr. Jantuah emphasized the importance of both political parties collaborating to advance the country.

    Regarding recent outages, Mr. Sam Dubik Mahama, Managing Director of ECG, clarified that the interruptions were due to local faults, not supply issues. He highlighted urgent measures to replace the gas plant valve, worth $200 million, which contributed to recent outages.

    Mr. Jantuah urged ECG to take decisive steps to eliminate wastages, collect funds efficiently, and distribute resources effectively.

    In November 2023, Ghana’s total electricity consumption reached 21,440 GWh, with a projected year-end figure of 23,617 GWh and an estimated consumption of 24,997 GWh, representing a 5.8% increase for 2024, according to the Energy Commission.

    “So far as the lights are going off intermittently, once a day or twice a day, it’s ‘dumsor,’” Mr Kwame Jantuah, Chairman, Oil and Gas sector, said in an exclusive interview with the Ghana News Agency.

    “Energy is like air, and so important for houses and industry, and we cannot mess with it. Where power is concerned, it shouldn’t be a political situation, but a national discussion where political leaders sit and come to an agreement,” Mr Jantuah said.

  • For the first time in over a century, score of nurses strike today in first mass walkout over salary

    The action, which was a “difficult decision,” has led to picket lines being set up and Christmas Day-style service being implemented in many hospitals, but nurses say they are not enjoying it. The action, which was a “difficult decision,” has picket lines set up and Christmas Day-style service implemented in many hospitals, but nurses say they are not enjoying it.

    In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, tens of thousands of nurses have walked out in protest for the first time in a century.

    The attempt to secure above-inflation pay increases has moved forward as a result of the failure of negotiations to avert it.

    Thousands of NHS appointments and operations have been cancelled, and picket lines are set up at numerous hospitals. The health system is currently operating like a bank holiday-style service in many areas.

    The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will still staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care.

    Some areas of mental health and learning disability and autism services are also exempt from the strike, while trusts have been told they can request staffing for specific clinical needs.

    When it comes to adult A&E and urgent care, nurses will work Christmas Day-style rotas.

    Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said agency NHS trusts were “pulling out all the stops” to lessen the impact on patients.

    She said: “But it’s inevitable that some operations or appointments will have to be rescheduled, and trusts are pulling out all the stops to minimise disruption.

    Source: SkyNews.com 

  • Chains such as Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut face disruption as a result of a strike vote at a key food supplier

    In the case of a catastrophic strike by Best Food Logistics workers, fast food restaurants may be forced to hurry to source alternative supplies through no fault of their own.

    It claimed that 93% of employees had rejected a 6% pay increase since it was much lower than the rate of inflation and amounted to a real-terms pay loss this year and next.

    Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said: “These workers bust a gut to deliver fresh, just-in-time food to some of the biggest names in the business.

    “Best Food’s parent companies Booker and Tesco are making incredibly healthy profits and paying large dividends while leaving these workers crushed by the cost of living.

    “Now some of their biggest clients may well be left short this Christmas because they won’t meet GMB’s reasonable request for a pay deal that protects our members through this year and into next with a genuine cost of living increase.”

    The prospect of disruption to supplies for chains builds on a year of intensifying union action across the economy that has seen railway workers, Royal Mail, and Post Office staff-to-Felixstowe dock workers walk out in a fight for better pay.

    The outgoing leader of the trade union body the TUC has warned key healthcare workers could be next on the picket lines this winter.

    Frances O’Grady was due to tell its annual congress they were already struggling with rising bills and claim that members of unions were facing the “longest squeeze on real wages since Napoleonic times”.

    ‘So it looks like we have nurses strike on our hands?’

    “If ministers and employers keep hammering pay packets at the same rate, UK workers are on course to suffer two decades of lost living standards”, she said.

    “We have got to stop the rot”.

    The prospect of a pay fight between the government and unions representing health workers could not come at a more difficult time given winter pressure on the NHS and the clear signal from the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt that he will be keeping a tight hold of the public purse strings in the wake of the disastrous mini-budget outlined by his predecessor.

     

  • University lecturers in Nigeria have ended an eight-month strike

    Millions of students have been at home since February 14, the latest in a long wave of nationwide strikes.

    Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended an eight-month strike, the group has said on social media.

    ASUU, the umbrella body for university lecturers nationwide, announced the move on Friday but did not provide details on when schools will reopen.

    The decision came after intense negotiations between ASUU and government representatives at a meeting mediated by members of the House of Representatives in Abuja, local media reported.

    “Let all of us working together and the members of the House of Representatives working together put a beautiful end to this thing we have started so that every Nigerian will be proud that we have the universities we can be proud of,” ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke was quoted as saying by local media.

    “We also extend our appreciation to the president for intervening in the ASUU strike. And I want to appeal that in future we should not allow the strike to linger. The strike should not go beyond two days,” Osodeke added.

    He is also expected to announce in the coming days when academic activities will resume in universities.

    Millions of students nationwide have been at home since February 14 as part of the latest of a long wave of strikes, which are common in Nigeria.

    Nigeria has more than 100 public universities and an estimated 2.5 million students, according to the country’s National Universities Commission. At least 15 recorded strikes have taken place in the universities since 2000.

    The striking lecturers were demanding a review of their conditions of service including the platform the government uses to pay their earnings, improved funding for the universities, and payment of their salaries withheld since the strike started.

     

     

     

     

  • Industrial action: French oil workers vote to continue strike

    Fuel stations across the country are experiencing shortages as a result of French oil workers’ decision to extend their strike.

    When the government threatened to use mandatory powers to make some of them go back to work, they reacted fiercely.

    The strike, in its third week, has shut six of France’s seven oil refineries.

    With long queues of cars now a regular sight at the pumps, the government wants to get the fuel flowing again.

    Nearly a third of French petrol stations are now reported to be running short of at least one kind of motor fuel.

    Unions want pay increases for their workers, which they say should take account of the huge profits being made at the moment by the oil companies.

    They are seeking a 10% pay rise – 7% to cover inflation and 3% for what they call “wealth-sharing”.

    The government’s latest move to head off the impact of the action is to requisition key staff at a refinery in Normandy, threatening prosecution unless they allow some lorry tankers to fill up.

    French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that if no agreement could be reached between the oil firms and the unions, the government would act to “unblock the situation”.

    But the hard-left unions behind the stoppages see this as a threat to their right to strike and have toughened their position, calling the government’s warning “illegal” and a “choice of violence”.

    A spokesman for the CGT union said it was waiting for the government’s requisition notifications and would challenge them in court.

    On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron called on unions to end the strikes, but said energy companies should listen to the workers’ “legitimate salary demands”.

    The strike action has split opinions in France, with some commuters expressing exasperation over the fuel shortages and pointing out that they need their cars for work.

    But at a time of growing anxiety about the cost of living and soaring profits for some energy companies, others have expressed sympathy for the strikers.

     

  • Criminal defence attorneys vote to end their strike after accepting a government salary offer

    After accepting a salary offer from the government, criminal barristers in England and Wales voted to end their strike.

    The end of the industrial action, which led to the suspension of numerous cases, was confirmed by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA).

    In a statement on Twitter, it said: “The Criminal Bar has voted to accept the proposal made by the government.

    “With 57% voting to accept the offer made by the government, action is suspended from 18.00hrs this evening.”

    It comes after the justice secretary proposed more reforms to fees for legal aid work, which the government said amounted to another £54m.

    The CBA said the criminal justice system remained “chronically underfunded” but that it would respect the decision of its members and end the strike.

    Barristers will be able to accept new cases from Monday evening and will return to court on Tuesday.

    They had originally been offered a 15% fee rise from the end of September – an extra £7,000 per year – but were told it would only apply to new cases.

    However, an improved offer from the Ministry of Justice applied the increase to the “vast majority of cases currently in the crown court”.

    Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis said he was “glad that barristers have now agreed to return to work”.

    He added: “This breakthrough is a result of coming together and restarting what I hope to be a constructive relationship as we work to drive down the backlog and ensure victims see justice done sooner.”

    The High Court had warned recently that strike delays might not be a good enough reason to keep defendants on remand in custody if the dispute dragged on past November.

    Barristers started their activities in the summer – initially on alternate weeks and refusing certain work – before escalating it to a continuous walkout last month.

    The CBA argued that real-terms pay had decreased on average by 28% since 2006.

    Some barristers said they sometimes earned minimum wage for government-funded work when accounting for the number of hours they put in.