General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Mr Solomon Kotei fears hundreds of workers will lose their jobs if the power crisis continues to the end of the year.
�Labour is apprehensive that managers of the economy cannot tell when the power crisis will end,� he said.
He said the new strategy of companies is to lay off workers in smaller numbers over a period of time, instead of the onetime lay-off of hundreds of workers.
In an exclusive interview with The Finder, Mr Kotei said the power crisis has burdened industries to the extent that Labour Unions find it difficult to negotiate for increase in salaries of workers after being presented with the reality.
He explained that workers of companies that do not have generators become idle at work during power cuts.
He was worried that there is no data about the amount of energy industries consume and at what time.
He said the impact of the power crisis on the hospitality industry was significant, saying hotels, for instance, buy an average of GH₵700 fuel to power their generators for six hours, in addition to the cost of servicing the generators.
This, Mr Kotei said, increases overhead cost, and since the companies say they cannot pass on the cost to consumers, they tend to cut down on labour.
Mr Kotei said high taxes, high utilities and the erratic power supply situation have overburdened employers.
In addition, he said the country has over-liberalised trade, exposing local products to stiff competition from cheap imports.
He noted that most items in departmental stores are foreign, describing the situation as �neo-colonialism back in a polished form.�
<<Print>>