Solidarity Message to the ICU at Its Congress In Kumasi – 2017

Comrades, I bring you greetings from the Graphic Communications Group Ltd on this important occasion of your congress.

We are mutual friends with the ICU and we cherish this relationship, which we have worked to strengthen with each passing year.

Brothers and Sisters, congress is important in the life of organised labour because it helps you to live what you stand and fight for – democracy in organisations.

I understand that at this congress not only will you elect leaders, but you will also have your current leaders account for their stewardship.

Probably these actions may be deemed routine, but to me they mean more than routines. They are significant symbolisms that show that just as you insist on openness and accountability in companies, you practise them too. And I commend you for that.

I assure you that when it comes to democracy at the workplace, Graphic is always with you because we consider it vital for good employee relations, without which managements may be tempted to constitute themselves into enlightened dictatorships and impose their will on workers.

As you can bear witness, Graphic respects the tenets of workplace democracy and fully adhere to them to keep industrial harmony and I am happy to note that with an insightful appreciation of the dynamics of the relationship between labour and organisation, the ICU has always worked with us to ensure industrial harmony at Graphic. For this I am most grateful.

Comrades, I wish to encourage you to continue to fight for the best for workers – a better economy and better compensation – but also you should seriously consider how you will make a meaningful impact on production because we must first create before we share.

I respect your cause and like Martin Luther King Jr, I believe that the fruits of your struggle for the betterment of workers actually help the economy to expand. As you gain more pay for workers, you empower them with better disposable incomes, which means they can buy more goods, which in turn means expanded market and increased wealth for organisations offering these goods and services, hence their ability to employ more people to reduce unemployment.

I wish to share with you the words of JOHN F. KENNEDY:

“Our labor [sic] unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.”

Comrades, my thoughts about you couldn’t be better expressed than this.

Before I sit let me do the bidden of the Graphic Local Union. The task they asked me to do is to tell you of the new products that they have championed, the Graphic News App. So now you can buy a digital copy of all your favorite Graphic Newspapers without leaving your homes on your android and your iOS devices. Just go to the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store and download the App for free. Then you can subscribe to the paper at a discounted fee of GHS1.25.

I bear a small gift from Henry Addo and his comrades, the 1^st hundred ICU members here present who will download the Graphic News on the android platform will get 2 copies of any of our newspapers for free. All you have to do is to please select MTN mobile money, as your payment option and use the number 054-199-3633 to buy any 2 of the newspapers and Graphic Local Union will pay for you.

Finally never has a strong and responsible Trade Union movement been so needed in Ghana, with the socio economic challenges, that we face, a very partisan political system and weak professional bodies. The people of Ghana need the ICU to mobilize the other Trade Unions not to only speak for the masses but also be an objective voice who will partner Governments to bring out Ghanaian Solutions to our Ghanaian problems.

I also call on the ICU and all of you here present to join the Media led war on illegal mining, which is destroying our country and our future. Tsio boioo!!!!

I wish you a successful congress with fruitful deliberations. Thank you.

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