Kumasi, Aug 17, GNA - Mr Abraham Annan Adjei, Industrial Relations Manager of the Ghana Employers' Association, has stressed the need for workers to be more familiar with the Labour Law to enable them know their rights and responsibilities.

He noted that the Law regulates the working environment and conditions of service just like the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which should be known by workers to ensure good working relations between them and their employers to ensure higher productivity. Mr Adjei was speaking at a forum on the Labour Act 651 of 2003 organised jointly by the Ashanti regional secretariat of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Business Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund in Kumasi on Wednesday.

More than 200 workers selected from the Ashanti region attended the function. They would be briefed on the law to enable them become familiar with it and make inputs.

Mr Adjei said the new Labour Act covered new areas such as registration and licensing of private employment agencies, protection of employment of women and young persons with disability. Madam Agnes Gorman, Ashanti Regional Labour Officer, said the policy of the Labour Department was to promote employment and maintain good working relations between employers and workers. She said the department would continue to conduct inspections at workplaces and monitor the way employers and workers comply with the law.

Mrs Marianne Holst, a TUC Consultant, appealed to workers to insist on their rights at all times and that they should forward their grievances and problems to the Labour Commission for redress. During the interaction, some of the workers complained about issues such as arbitrarily dismissal by employers, workers inability to enjoy their annual leave and their inability to benefit from the payment of workman's compensations.