Former GNPC Workers Threaten May Day "Aluta"

THE OVER 140 ex-workers of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) who recently petitioned President Kufuor over alleged injustices being meted out to them by the management of the corporation, have threatened to go on demonstration on May day to draw attention to how they are being cheated after having dutifully served between five and fifteen years.

According to the workers who include electrical engineers and other high-ranking professionals, they have decided to resort to the demonstration because they have exhausted all legal avenues to get GNPC to pay them their due entitlements.

They regretted that the letter they despatched to President Kufuor soliciting his intervention had not even been acknowledged, let alone acted upon.

This leaves them with no option but to pour onto the streets, for Ghanaians and the world at large to know how they had been cheated by the GNPC management, they stressed.

The appointment of the over 140 ex-workers who, according to GNPC management are contract workers were terminated following the suspension of the corporation activities by the government.

Following this directive, the NPP government decided to pay all the affected workers their due entitlements.

Surprisingly when the negotiation for the payment of the amount was going on, the GNPC management allegedly dumped the project and contract workers in the "dustbin" and concentrated on the permanent staff only. In the end they succeeded in getting fantabulous sums of money for the permanent staff, contrary to what the collective bargaining agreement they signed with the corporation in the event of redundancy says.

Chronicle heard that though the collective bargaining agreement states clearly that in the event of redundancy each worker must be paid two months basic salary times the number of years served, management manoeuvred and came to the conclusion that each permanent staff who is involved must be given four months pay, with all allowances inclusive, times the number of years served in addition to 25% salary revision.

With this gentleman's agreement, Chronicle heard that workers classified as permanent whose academic qualifications are nowhere near those of some of the project and contract workers got not less than ?20 million as their redundancy pay and other entitlements.

When it came to the turn of the project and contracts, workers most of whom were working on the Tano oilfield project, management decided that they should be paid one month salary times every five years served.

This means that an engineer who earns a high salary but termed a contract worker would not even get ?2.5 million as his redundancy package whilst a common messenger described as permanent would be earning over ?10 million.

Some of the aggrieved workers who spoke to the Chronicle said the reason for meting out such injustices to them is that they are contract workers when as a matter of fact they were receiving letters from GNPC management asking them to go on their annual leave when it is due.

They wondered how GNPC could ask them to go on leave when they are contract workers and also paying their SSNIT contributions, TUC dues, among others on their behalf but when it comes to redundancy pay which they are all entitled to, they would be discriminated against.

Workers further hinted Chronicle that they have heard GNPC management in close collaboration with the government has started paying 50% of all the entitlements due the so-called permanent staff whilst the remaining would be paid in two separate instalments even though they themselves have not been paid anything after rejecting management's ridiculous offer.

"My brother, is that how to treat your own countrymen who have sacrificed to work on high seas among other dangerous places, searching for oil for almost fifteen years?" one of them asked.