"Pay maternity leave from discriminatory women's pension contributions" | General news

The Labor Rights Institute (LRI), a labor rights organization, said any measure that would require women workers to pay maternity leave with part of their pension contributions will be highly discriminatory.

The proposal in this direction was a subtle attempt to blackmail the country for it to accept the situation in which some employers cite the cost of maternity leave to justify their refusal to employ women.

A statement issued in Accra and signed by Mohammed Affum, executive coordinator of the LRI, said that if the suggestion was well-meaning, the cost of maternity leave should be extended to fathers, some of whom were on paternity leave with pay .

She said at a time when the boundaries of maternity protection for women workers were broadened in recognition of their productive and reproductive roles, the suggestion of the Vice President of the National Labor Commission was unfortunate.

According to the release, baduming that a female worker enjoys a maternity leave three times in her professional life and that a total of nine months salary is therefore deducted from her retirement contribution to pay the leave, how much she would receive a sizeable retirement income by knowing the derisory pensions paid to most Ghanaian workers.

Convention of the ILO

He cites the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Maternity Protection, which is the third adopted by the international tripartite body in 1919.

It aims to promote the health, safety and economic well-being of pregnant and lactating workers so that they help to replenish the workforce for productive work.

"Over the years, the ILO's tripartite partners – governments, employers 'badociations and workers' unions – worked together to revise the Convention in 1952 and 1983 to provide more protection for pregnant and lactating workers". he declared.

Therefore, it was disappointing that one hundred years after the adoption of the Convention, Ghanaian women would be asked to pay their maternity leave from their pension contributions, instead of the employer's view that this would jeopardize the economic well-being of pregnant women and pregnant women. who are badfeeding and affect their health and safety.

The LRI stated that removing the financial burden of maternity leave for employers could encourage women workers to have children after finding a job, which is misleading.

"This claim aims to justify the unpleasant and inhuman provisions of employment contracts of certain employers that make it a" recognizable offense "for women workers who have children without having served their sentence for a specified period," the text adds.

Law on the Execution of Work

According to the press release, many employers deny paid maternity leave to their workers and take them back after the birth of their child, subject to the availability of vacant positions, as state regulatory agencies do not have resources needed to implement the relevant provisions of the Labor Law.

According to Mrs. Rose Kakari-Annan, Vice-President of the National Labor Commission (CNL), she described as worrying the fact that, in some advanced countries, women workers pay maternity leave from their pension contributions.

The Vice-President did not take into account the many social protection measures in these countries, including day nurseries and free medical care, among others.

He therefore invited the Committee to dissociate itself publicly from the suggestion of its Vice-President, on pain of undermining the confidence of the women workers in the impartiality of the Committee when deciding on conflicts relating to the protection of maternity.