Definitive Report - Report No 116, 1970

Case No 578 (Ghana) - Complaint date: 10-JAN-69 - Closed

1. 43. The complaint is contained in a communication dated 10 January 1969, sent by the Trades Union Congress (Ghana) to the Director-General of the ILO. In another communication dated 15 March 1969, the complainant organisation provided further information. Both communications were forwarded to the Government, which supplied its observations on 28 July 1969.
2. 44. Ghana has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 45. The allegations by the Trades Union Congress (Ghana) concern the law and practice regarding restrictions on the right to strike and the settlement of collective disputes. The Committee earlier investigated some aspects of these questions in Case No. 303, concerning Ghana, following a complaint by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
   • Allegations concerning the Industrial Relations Act of 1965 and the Conduct of the Authorities in Three Collective Disputes
2. 46. In its communication of 10 January 1969, the Trades Union Congress of Ghana refers to specific provisions of the Industrial Relations Act of 1965, now in force, concerning the exercise of the right to strike and the compulsory conciliation and arbitration procedures. The complaint describes the reasons for which, in the opinion of the complainant organisation, some of these provisions and the manner in which they are applied in practice lead to a general restriction of strikes. The complainants maintain that the procedures laid down in the Act for the settlement of collective labour disputes do not provide the necessary guarantees of impartiality and speed. In addition the complainants refer to three collective disputes (between the Cargo Handling Company and the Maritime and Dockworkers' Union, between the Hotel Intercontinental and the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union, and between the Accra-Tema City Council and the Local Government Workers' Union) in which the authorities are said to have condoned or encouraged the unfair attitude of the employers, and the dismissal of many workers.
3. 47. The Government furnished its observations in a communication dated 28 July 1969. As regards the Industrial Relations Act of 1965, the Government denied the allegation that no impartial machinery existed in Ghana for the settlement of collective disputes. The Government referred to the discussions which had already taken place at a meeting of the Labour Advisory Committee (at which both the Trades Union Congress of Ghana and the Employers' Association of Ghana were represented), concerning proposed amendments to the 1965 Act and a draft order setting up a labour court. The Government also stated that it had invited the above-mentioned organisations to submit further proposed amendments for subsequent discussion by the Labour Advisory Committee. As regards the three collective disputes referred to in the complaint, the Government supplied detailed information on the origin and development of the disputes, stating that the authorities' action had remained within the bounds of the law and that measures were being taken to reinstate some of the workers and to compensate others.
4. 48. At its November 1969 Session, the Committee decided to postpone its examination, of the case until the present session.
   • Decision of the Complainant Organisation to Withdraw Its Complaint
5. 49. There have subsequently been a number of developments directly concerned with the matter. During the discussions of the Third African Regional Conference of the International Labour Organisation (Accra, 8-19 December 1969) Mr. K. A. Busia, the Prime Minister of Ghana, referred in a speech on 10 December 1969 to the complaint lodged by the Trades Union Congress of Ghana with the ILO. As an example of his Government's' adherence to the principles of the Organisation, he stated that, notwithstanding the legal rights of the Government, it had proposed a solution to the labour dispute at Tema Harbour; the proposals had been accepted by the leaders of the labour movement, who had recognised them to be generous proposals. The Prime Minister stated that this had been done as a contribution towards the recognition of the right of workers to be respected and treated with dignity. Mr. B. A. Bentum, Workers' delegate for Ghana (and Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress), in his speech on 12 December 1969, referred to the Prime Minister's statement concerning the settlement of a long-standing problem which the Ghana Trades Union Congress had raised with the ILO, and commended the attitude of the present Government of Ghana and of all those who had helped to facilitate the settlement of the problem. He stated that, in the light of the settlement, there was no other course than to withdraw the complaint lodged with the ILO.
6. 50. In a communication dated 30 January 1970, the Trades Union Congress of Ghana informed the Director-General of its decision to withdraw the complaint in the following terms:
   • I have the honour most respectfully to refer to our letter No. COM.ILO/69/1 dated 10 January 1969, in connection with the complaint lodged against the Government of Ghana for the infringement of trade union rights in the Republic of Ghana and to appraise you with the steps so far taken to get the matter amicably resolved in the following cases of:
     • (a) The Cargo Handling Company/Maritime and Dockworkers' Union;
     • (b) The Hotel Intercontinental/Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union;
     • (c) The Accra-Tema City Council/Local Government Workers' Union.
   • 1 (a) Following series of high-powered negotiations between representatives of the Trades Union Congress (Ghana) and the Maritime and Dockworkers' Union on one side and the Government of Ghana on the other, the fourteen-month-old dispute affecting 2,000 employees of the Ghana Cargo Handling Company, Tema, has been amicably resolved. Terms of agreement reached as a result of negotiations were as follows:
   • I. " The Lockout instituted by the Company is revoked as from 2 January 1970.
   • II. All permanent employees alleged dismissed as a result of the Lockout are to report to work on that date. They are, with immediate effect, to be paid a month's salary at the rate they were receiving before the Lockout in order to enable them to enjoy this forthcoming Christmas.
   • III. In the event of the casual labour, their lockout has also been revoked and can report at the work site as usual for allocation as and when jobs are available.
   • IV. The permanent employees shall not lose their past services accrued to them at the time they were locked out."
7. 2 (b) As a result of series of negotiations held between the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of TUC (Ghana), the Management of Hotel Intercontinental and representatives of the Government of Ghana, it was finally resolved that the dismissed workers, numbering about 550, be reinstated. Since then, a total numbering 500 workers have been recalled and efforts are being made to recall the last batch of 50 workers.
8. 3 (c) The management of Accra-Tema City Council has given an undertaking to recall back all workers arbitrarily dismissed, following an agreement reached between the Local Government Workers' Union of the TUC (Ghana) and the Management Committee of the Accra-Tema City Council.
   • As regards the other item concerning amendments to the Industrial Relations Act which formed part of our complaint, we have pleasure to let you know that the Labour Advisory Committee has discussed the objections raised by us and the amendments as proposed by us have been accepted. The necessary legal instruments to its effect are being worked out by the Attorney-General's Department for incorporation into the Act.
   • The Executive Board of the Ghana Trades Union Congress, at its meeting held from 16 to 17 January 1970, resolved that the complaint lodged with your office on 10 January 1969 against the Ghana Government be withdrawn formally, in view of the agreed settlement.
9. 51. The letter from the Trades Union Congress of Ghana ends by thanking the ILO for the action taken in connection with its complaint.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 52. The Committee has always considered that the withdrawal of a complaint created a situation whose scope should be fully investigated. In this respect, the Committee has expressed the view that the desire shown by a complainant organisation to withdraw its complaint, while constituting a factor to which the greatest attention should be paid, was not in itself sufficient reason for the Committee to cease automatically to proceed with the examination of the complaint. The same position was adopted by the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association when it dealt with a case concerning Greece in 1966 z Both the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission and the Committee, acting on the basis of a principle formulated by the Governing Body in 1937, recalled that they were competent to evaluate the reasons put forward to explain the withdrawal of a complaint and to decide whether these appeared sufficiently plausible for it to be concluded that the withdrawal was made in full independence.
2. 53. In the present case, the complainant organisation has specified the reasons for its decision to withdraw the complaint, namely that by means of negotiations in which the Government took part, a settlement had been found, on terms favourable to the workers, to the three disputes to which part of these allegations referred, that the Labour Advisory Committee had accepted the amendments proposed by the complainant organisation to the legislative provisions which constituted the subject of the remaining allegations in this case, and that these amendments were in the process of being adopted.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 54. In these circumstances, in view of the fact that the complainant organisation has formally expressed its wish to withdraw the complaint, since the problems raised therein have been settled in accordance with its wishes, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that this case calls for no further examination on its part.