The Timber and Woodworkers' Union (TWU) of the TUC has finally won the right to negotiate collective bargaining agreements on behalf of employees of the Forestry Commission, following a protracted fight with their General Agricultural Workers' Union (GAWU) counterparts. This followed the release of results of a verification exercise conducted by the Labour Department, which concluded that 1,400 worker of the Commission opted for TWU as against 363 for GAWU. A statement signed by Mr Joshua Ansah, General Secretary of TWU, said Miss Elizabeth Hagan, Acting Chief Labour Officer announced the results of the verification exercise at a meeting of representatives of TWU and GAWU in the presence of the TUC Secretary General Kwasi Adu Amankwah and Kofi Adu Asamoah, Deputy Secretary General (Operations). According to the statement Miss Hagan told the meeting that the exercise, which was conducted in July this year, covered 46 districts, 10 offices and 10 parks of the Forestry Commission throughout the country. The verification exercise was conducted to resolve a four-year-old dispute between the TWU and GAWU as to which of the unions held a larger chunk of the staff of the Forestry Commission. The statement said the verdict vindicated a decision the staff took at their national delegates' conference in Kumasi in 2003 to belong to TWU. Source: GNA