Informal Sector Associations, including the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers’ Association, Weavers Association, United Hairdressers’ Association, and Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association, have welcomed amendments that have sanctions been incorporated into workplace Gendered Policies.
The development of the document and its amendment, spearheaded by the Widows and Orphans Movement with support from ActionAid Ghana, seeks to address discrepancies and abuse in the informal sector.
Major changes in the sector’s activities include limiting the time for passing out ceremonies between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. Flouting this rule would mean that the trainer would pay a fine of 500 cedis, failure, of which the association would withhold the certificates.
The amendment also stipulates that passing out ceremony is optional and should not be forced. Again, no trainer should compel trainees to engage in domestic work for them, or they risk paying a fine of 300 cedis or having their certificates withheld if they fail to pay the fine.
In the case of the training, the trainer is required to teach apprentices three new styles each week, including techniques for cutting, weaving, braiding, or sewing.
On the part of the trainees, they are not supposed to give birth more than once during their three-year training period.
Any trainee, who puts to bed more than once within the period, would have her training period extended by one year. Trainees, who are absent from work without approval, will be required to work extra hours during the three-month service period.
Speaking to Dreamz News on the Sidelines of the Launch and Awareness Creation session on Amendments (Sanctions) incorporated in Workplace Gendered Policies organized by Widows and Orphans Movement with support from ActionAid Ghana, the Upper East Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Hairdressers and Beauticians Association (GHABA), Kolog Veronica says the finalization has helped them to add sanctions.
This means that they will stop holding passing out ceremonies deep into the night.
“Initially, we did not add sanctions to our regulations to let us know what to do if the trainer or trainee goes against the law. So, we have agreed that after graduation, the trainee should serve the madam and that the madam should assist the trainee with TNT. When it comes to passing out, we have agreed that it should not go beyond 6:00 pm, and one, who goes beyond that, will be made to pay a fine. When you come as an apprentice, you are not supposed to give birth more than once. If you do that, you will be forced to work extra hours,” she said.
