Over 3,000 Jobs To Be Lost By Close Of 2015

Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) is projecting the loss of over 3,000 jobs by close of 2015.

“If the trend is anything to go by, we are looking at about 2,000 to over 3,000 job losses within this year from our sector alone but we don’t know about others,” said the Secretary General of ICU, Solomon Kotei said on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Between January and March 2015, the ICU is reporting that over 500 jobs have been lost due to the economic and deepening energy crisis.

According to Mr. Kotei, the rate of redundancies in the various sectors of the economy is alarming and immediate steps must be taken to resolve the socio-economic challenges to save jobs.

The worsening power crisis is having a serious toll on businesses; many of which have to rely on generator sets to power their businesses which consequently increases operational cost.

The ICU has therefore admonished the government to reduce the cost of petroleum prices to help local businesses power their generators to support their operations.

The power crisis has also forced the Alliance for Young Entrepreneurs (AYE) to consider legal action against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Although the group acknowledges the extent of the energy situation, they argue that the ECG must strictly adhere to the load shedding timetable to enable them plan their daily operations to stay in business.