Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Employment and Labour Relations Minister has urged the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) to aptly prepare themselves to acclimatize themselves with the new trends of technology.
Speaking at the 12th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of PUWU, Mr. Baffour Awuah said the union must embrace the fourth industrial revolution which has changed the way humans live and work.
“The world of work is in a state of flux, changing as never before, driven by inexorable forces that are heavily impacting manufacturing and trade, global supply chains and the global economy”.
The conference was on the theme, “Repositioning the Union in the face of emerging challenges in the world of work”.
One key challenge highlighted by the Employment Minister which trade unions face is to encourage and empower their members to immerse themselves in the new trends and sharpen their skills technical knowhow.
As a result of the global pandemic encountered nations, Mr. Baffour Awuah was of the opinion that the theme chosen by the Union for the conference was in conformity with current global happenings and that it was a discussion that would yield collective benefits for members of the trade unions.
“The PUWU vision of repositioning the Union in the face of emerging challenges should be well embraced for the collective benefit of members”.
According to him, as technology advances and modern scientific solutions abound, there is competition between companies that adopt new technologies to take the lead and impact the workplace and businesses that may fail and fizzle out. It is therefore incumbent on labour unions and their members to reposition themselves.
He reiterated that the youth in particular and other segments of society must be equipped with the requisite skills and knowledge to take advantage of the new technologies for enterprise development.
The Minister also called for a combined effort between the public and private sectors in developing the country’s national technological infrastructure to improve the livelihoods of citizens.
He further touched on the global impact of the pandemic by saying, it has largely opened the world’s eyes to technologies which make it clear that many jobs of today will be automated tomorrow. And this will have profound consequences for the people particularly the youth, unskilled labour force and technology-averse persons.
He also assured the union of his government’s commitment via his outfit in ensuring protection of rights in workplace environment and also staff working under favorable conditions.
On the back of this, he called on the concerted efforts and collaboration of all social partners in realizing the objectives of government.
“Government through the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), has the vision of ensuring decent work for all Ghanaians. It is to provide opportunities for productive work; ensure that workers enjoy their rights at work; provide access to social protection; and provide the platform for social dialogue to address workers’ issues”.
