The National Labour Commission (NLC) has ordered the aggrieved telecom workers and their employers to go for voluntary arbitration to resolve the stalemate over their salary increment negotiations, which led to a strike by the workers last Monday.
At an emergency hearing yesterday afternoon to resolve the impasse between the workers, represented by the Telecom and IT Professionals Union (TIP), and four telecom sub-contractors (SBCs), the Commission believes the differences on the salary negotiations can be settled at arbitration.
The Commission was unhappy over the non-compliance of its earlier directive to the four SBCs; Linfra Ghana Limited, MP Infrastructure Ghana Limited, Reime Ghana Limited and Reliance Personal Services, to fully conduct a job evaluation for an enhanced salary structure.
It therefore directed the parties to conclude their job evaluation report review within one month, effective March 18, 2021.
A source at the meeting told ADR Daily that, the Commission, which admonished the parties to work as partners, upheld the Union’s request for the joint management of the SBCs to make available all the relevant information and documents the union needs for the negotiations and job evaluation.
According to the source, the parties agreed to resume talks on the job evaluation at 12noon today through the zoom virtual platform.
Israel Edem Agbegbor, General Secretary of the union, who confirmed the outcome of the yesterday’s meeting to ADR Daily, said the union was ready for the arbitration.
The Telecom and IT Professionals Union, made up of telecom engineers and technicians who manage the key technical operations for the telecom operators, embarked on an industrial action on Monday, due to poor conditions of service.
The action was triggered by a deadlock in salary negotiations between the union and the joint management of the SBCs who have been enaged by Hauwei Technologies Limited to maintain the technical operations of MTN, AirtelTigo and Vodafone.
But the Labour Commission intervened, directing the parties to stay action and appear before it for a hearing on the matter.
