Don�t Wait For Workers To Go On Strike - Kwesi Pratt Tells Govt

Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt says government must be proactive in solving issues bothering on wages of workers in the country. According to him, government need not wait for the workers to go on strike or agitate before meeting their needs. Kwesi Pratt was speaking on the recent strike action of teachers and the President�s intervention; pleading with them to go back to the classroom. Contributing to panel discussions on Peace FM�s morning show �Kokrokoo�, with host Kwami Sefa-Kayi, Kwesi Pratt said the teachers started complaining about discrepancies in their conditions of service about a year ago yet nothing was done about it until they went on strike. This should not be the case.� He has also asked President Mahama to enforce the various institutions in the country to be effective. He said in terms of the teachers situation, institutions like the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC) and the National Labour Commission (NLC) should have been able to resolve those issues �but that was not the case�. �The situation where workers would have to run to the President to solve issues when institutions are there to do that must cease. With the issue of the teachers for instance, the National Labour Commission and the Fair Wages and Salary Commission were supposed to solve that issue but they sat down for the teachers to go on strike and then for the President to intervene himself...� Mr. Pratt has also alluded that if teachers are being asked to sacrifice by putting the nation first, then government officials should also be ready to do same. �Teachers should not be the only ones asked to sacrifice when MPs and others are under certain privileges or receiving housing allowance of GH�50,000. Those at the top should also sacrifice; they can�t be always sitting at the top and enjoying. We should all help in developing our country. Not one enjoying and the other suffering�, he added.