SMG STATEMENT ON MAY DAY

On the occasion of May Day, the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG) extends its
militant salutations to organised labour and the working people of Ghana. We also extend our
solidarity to the workers who produce all the wealth in society but are denied access to it
under the jack boots of capitalist dictatorship.

We wish to assure organised labour that the SMG stands shoulder to shoulder with
them, in the bold confrontation with poverty and under development. As we celebrate May
Day, we cannot ignore the fact that the pursuit of the neo-liberal agenda by various Ghanaian
governments has led the country into extreme pain and hardship for the working people. Over
the last five years, the prices of goods and services have escalated significantly without a
corresponding appreciation in the remuneration of working people.

The Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG) also sees the attempt at casualization of
labour and the promotion of informal labour is a deliberate attempt to undermine the right of
workers and reduce their capacity to negotiation for better working and living conditions. In
this regard, we pledge our full support to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana and all
groups of working people opposed to these moves.

Since the overthrow of the Nkrumah government on February 24, 1966, Ghana’s neo colonial government have viciously attacked the rights of workers leading to a substantial
amendment of the Industrial Relations Act of 1965. These anti-worker moves were
intensified with the adoption of the so-called Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) under
the marching orders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
We call on organised labour to close their ranks in the face of the aggressive actions
to whittle down the gains of the working people. The right of workers to unite their
organisations and to organise solidarity actions including strikes ought to be defended.
The SMG sees international labour day as a day for the expression of the unity of the
struggles of labour, which is vital for the survival of humankind and the building of a new
global society based on the principles of social justice, democracy, and peace. We reject the
false narrative of capital creating profit when indeed profit is the product of labour.

The progressive people of Ghana cannot ever forget the role played by organised
labour in the fight for national independence and the SMG is confident that it can continue to
work closely with the rank and file of the labour movement against the neo-liberal policies
responsible for our poverty, under development and blatant exploitation.
We shall be victorious in our joint confrontation with the forces of capitalism.

Signed.

Justice Henaku
For General Secretary