Accra, (Greater Accra) 23 Feb. '99,

Mr Dennis Vormawor, Deputy Secretary-General (Administration) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), said in Accra on Monday that the labour movement is drawing up a new constitution under which women's regional representation on the executive board would be doubled from five to 10. This, he said, is to encourage effective participation of women in the labour movement. He was opening a three-day workshop for 10 women trade union negotiators drawn from 10 out of the 17 National Unions of the TUC on "Improved Negotiating Skills for Women Workers". It is part of a project sponsored by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) for Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, Seychelles and Zambia to equip women with negotiating skills so that they can articulate their labour rights and demands. Mr Vormawor said participants have the opportunity to shape their perception on collective bargaining, which is an essential function of trade unions, and to develop those skills for the tasks ahead. He commended Miss Adelaide Borden on her election as branch union secretary of the 10,000-strong Obuasi branch of Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) of the Ghana Mine Workers Union and urged other women to emulate her courage and determination to contest such elections. In a welcoming address, Mrs Veronica Ayikwei Kofie, Head of the TUC's Women's Desk and Co-ordinator of the workshop, said the journey to women's empowerment is a long and arduous one. She noted that some individuals and organisations are rising up to the challenge and said unless educated women put their shoulders to the wheel, "the majority of Ghanaian women would continue to grope in the dark long after we enter the third millennium."