Key Takeaways
- • Ghana's Tier-2 public sector occupational pension schemes, including HSOPS, GESOPS and PSWEPS, have grown into major institutional investors, with HSOPS alone reporting assets above GHS 7 billion.
- • HSOPS holds a 10% equity stake in First Atlantic Bank, illustrating how public sector worker pension capital shapes Ghana's corporate and capital market landscape.
- • The author argues that pension capital is frequently channelled into companies that discourage union membership, delay collective bargaining agreements, and target union leaders.
- • The article proposes that union trustees on public sector pension boards adopt Labour-Related ESG criteria, condition capital access on signed CBAs, and use AGM proxy voting to audit labour relations.
- • The author, a Principal Industrial Relations Officer at the Ashanti Regional Secretariat of the Health Services Workers Union, frames capital stewardship as a response to declining union membership.
Summary
An opinion piece published on MyJoyOnline examines how Ghanaian trade unions could use the financial weight of public sector pension funds to strengthen worker organising. The article begins by noting that organised labour globally faces a structural crisis, with membership densities falling due to informal employment, casualisation and anti-union corporate practices. It cites guidance from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) urging affiliates to modernise their recruitment strategies.
Under Ghana's National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), mandatory contributions equal 18.5% of an employee's basic salary. Of this, 13.5% goes to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for Tier-1, while 5% flows into mandatory Tier-2 occupational schemes. The article highlights the Health Services Occupational Pension Scheme (HSOPS), the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme (GESOPS) and the Public Sector Workers Employees' Pension Scheme (PSWEPS) as examples. HSOPS is described as holding over GHS 7 billion in assets and a 10% equity stake in First Atlantic Bank, and the author states that Tier-2 funds provide liquidity to the Ghana Stock Exchange and government securities markets.
The author identifies a contradiction: capital contributed by unionised public sector workers is often invested in private banks, service firms, real estate developers and other corporates that, according to the article, discourage union branch membership, delay or refuse Collective Bargaining Agreements, and target union leaders. The piece argues that this financial asymmetry should end.
To address this, the article proposes an "Active Capital Stewardship" strategy alongside traditional organising. Recommendations include union trustees, who are mandated to sit on public sector pension boards, pressing for labour-related ESG criteria; funds setting worker-rights standards that companies must meet, including signed CBAs, before receiving equity or long-term loans; and trustees using AGM voting power to audit labour practices at investee firms. The author also proposes a "Repent or Deny" approach, under which anti-union companies would either reform and recognise worker organising rights or face divestment.
The author concludes that workplace organising alone is insufficient against modern corporate resistance and that pension leverage could shift employer behaviour across the private sector. The article presents these as the author's views rather than reported developments; it does not report any adopted policy or formal action by pension boards.
Under Ghana's National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), mandatory contributions equal 18.5% of an employee's basic salary. Of this, 13.5% goes to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for Tier-1, while 5% flows into mandatory Tier-2 occupational schemes. The article highlights the Health Services Occupational Pension Scheme (HSOPS), the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme (GESOPS) and the Public Sector Workers Employees' Pension Scheme (PSWEPS) as examples. HSOPS is described as holding over GHS 7 billion in assets and a 10% equity stake in First Atlantic Bank, and the author states that Tier-2 funds provide liquidity to the Ghana Stock Exchange and government securities markets.
The author identifies a contradiction: capital contributed by unionised public sector workers is often invested in private banks, service firms, real estate developers and other corporates that, according to the article, discourage union branch membership, delay or refuse Collective Bargaining Agreements, and target union leaders. The piece argues that this financial asymmetry should end.
To address this, the article proposes an "Active Capital Stewardship" strategy alongside traditional organising. Recommendations include union trustees, who are mandated to sit on public sector pension boards, pressing for labour-related ESG criteria; funds setting worker-rights standards that companies must meet, including signed CBAs, before receiving equity or long-term loans; and trustees using AGM voting power to audit labour practices at investee firms. The author also proposes a "Repent or Deny" approach, under which anti-union companies would either reform and recognise worker organising rights or face divestment.
The author concludes that workplace organising alone is insufficient against modern corporate resistance and that pension leverage could shift employer behaviour across the private sector. The article presents these as the author's views rather than reported developments; it does not report any adopted policy or formal action by pension boards.
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