Labour Minister Cllr. Tiawan S. Gongloe says union certificates will become useless if it is not an authority used to seek the protection and welfare of workers and to organize peaceful and orderly discourse with employers that would promote harmonious working relation.

According to a Labour Ministry press release, Minister Gongloe made the statement on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 when the leadership of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) paid courtesy call on him at the Ministry of Labour to express gratitude to the Ministry for accelerating the process of granting a trade union status to the union.

“It is a legal obligation of the Ministry of Labour to review application for union certificate and to certificate organizations that meet the legal requirements for unionizing, but it is encouraging to see people coming back to say thank you, it motivates people to work hard eventhough, it is not necessarily a legal requirement”. The Labour Minister said.

Minister Gongloe noted that the best gratitude the Ministry of Labour can get from any organization is the proper use of the certificate presented to them by the Ministry to operate as a recognized trade union in Liberia.

He said the purpose of unionizing is to seek the protection and welfare of union members and called on the PUL to go forward to use the certificate for the benefit of all journalists in Liberia. “You need to read the labour law to make sure that you seek the interests of your members consistent with standards contained in our law” he added.

The Labour Minister said what the Ministry of Labour needs from the PUL is effective unionizing, that is promoting and creating the condition of understanding between media institutions and their employees within the workplaces at the demand of journalists in keeping with the Labour Law.

Earlier, Press Union of Liberia (PUL) President, Peter Quoiquoi said the PUL was very pleased with the level of attention the Ministry of Labour provided its request to grant the union a trade union status and expressed gratitude to the Minister for the initiative.

Mr. Quoiquoi said the desire of the PUL is to engage their employers to standardize and improve upon the working conditions of its members.

He said it is difficult to talk about ethics without talking about working condition of Journalists.

The PUL President said his institution lookss forward to the Ministry of Labour’s support and cooperation in drafting the union’s first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour has announced that the Ministry will extend the ongoing inspection exercise to media institutions to ensure that they are in compliance with labour standards.