The Gov­ern­ment’s dis­missal of 400 Un­em­ploy­ment Re­lief Pro­gramme (URP) work­ers, jus­ti­fied as a crack­down on “ghost work­ers,” has trig­gered back­lash from trade union lead­ers, who say the move was un­just and breached es­tab­lished labour prac­tices.

The Bank­ing, In­sur­ance and Gen­er­al Work­ers’ Union (BIG­WU), which rep­re­sents 600 month­ly paid URP work­ers, yes­ter­day con­demned the de­ci­sion as dra­con­ian and de­mand­ed their re­in­state­ment.

The Joint Trade Union Move­ment (JTUM) al­so ex­pressed sol­i­dar­i­ty, in­sist­ing the work­ers de­serve de­cent, sus­tain­able jobs with prop­er ben­e­fits.