Monrovia, Liberia – In light of the deteriorating relationship between LLC and the Ministry of Labour, the leadership of the 900,000 members of the Liberia Labour Congress is anticipated to choose which of the presidential contenders the private and public sectors will support.
John Nyemah Nat, the LLC’s acting secretary general, announced that the decision would be made in the first part of October to offer each presidential contender the chance to present their respective positions on the freedom of public sector employees to affiliate with any union.
In order to stop the deteriorating relationship between the LLC and the government, Mr. Nat is called on President George Weah to act right away at a news conference in Monrovia.
He claims that the vast majority of government employees, including teachers and healthcare professionals, are already extremely dissatisfied with how the Coalition for Democratic Change-led government’s inception has affected them in terms of harmonisation, institutional breakdown, and declining performance trends.
The LLC Acting Secretary General made it quite clear that when the time comes, the workforce would officially proclaim its support for the presidential candidate whose administration will ensure that the rights of workers across all industries to form unions are respected.
As a result of what the LLC leadership perceived as ministry meddling in the organization’s affairs, relations between the leadership and the ministry of labour have deteriorated. Government opposition to the National Teachers Association of Liberia, the Civil Servants Association of Liberia, and the National Health Workers Association joining the Liberia Labour Congress is one of the contributing causes.
It is reported that due to the drastic pay cuts brought on by the harmonisation, many government employees have stated that they will vote against the CDC-administration. To make matters worse, the majority of the union member organisations boycotted a recent election that was held by the Ministry of Labour.
When responses were requested from the ministry at the time this story was being prepared, Charles Gibson, the labour minister, said he wasn’t in the city and couldn’t answer.
Reported by: Augustine Octavius
Contact: +231777463963
Email: augustineoctavius@gmail.com
