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Labour Consultant, Austin Gamey, says the work of the National Tripartite Committee must not end with the determination of the national minimum wage.
According to him, the role of the Tripartite Committee goes beyond minimum wage determination, thus he has called on the Trades Union Congress and government to utilise the platform it provides to find solutions to national issues
He stated that the committee is to be consulted about the prevailing economic conditions in the country, and any solutions meant to address these conditions must be presented before the committee for discussion.
“I’ve heard my friends in organized labor call for this many times. The follow up is what they maybe have not done fully. Well. I’m expecting that government in going even to the IMF should have sat with them and told them like it was done in 2015 and lay out the plans they want to do, including, for instance, the pension matter that have been talked about because it is inappropriate for only one side to carry all of us our destiny into the hands of IMF without any prior conversation around the subject matter,” he said.
He noted that the Tripartite Committee puts both the employer and the employee on the same pedestal and allows for levelheaded conversation on issues brought before it.
“So I support organized labor, when there is a fully laid down bed for them to lay on. And you can find it in Section 113 of the Labor Act. It is not supposed to be dictated to by only the employer. It is not supposed to be so they have the right to call for the meeting.
“And if the employer failed, they can report the matter to the National Labor Commission. And the Commission has no choice than to order the employer, than to order the government, than to order organized labor, for them to go and sit down for them to have that conversation. That is the law, and it is industrial relations.”
