Gihoc Footwear Workers: No proper salary for 20years

THE FATE of workers of GIHOC Foot Wear Company Limited (Kumasi Shoe Factory), is still uncertain.

After they have toiled and sweated to keep the company from collapsing for the past 20 years, they are now working without any substantial monthly salaries.

The 71-strong workforce now have no other alternative than to depend on orders requested by a particular company. Monies accrued from the sales are being distributed to them, after deduction of overhead and other taxes.

The sad note is that, a month without orders from any company means a disaster.

Chronicle can reveal that salary arrears owed to the workers by the Government of Ghana are up by a whooping ?400 million in 2001 from ?100 million in 1996.

This sad situation, according to a reliable source in the company, has compounded problems to most of them; others' wives have left them prematurely and some had their children drop out of school while those who could not bear pressure from their creditors have either sought for greener pastures or met their untimely death.

Another inside source also told Chronicle that their future financial obligations are bleak because they could not make any meaningful contribution towards social security.

But it seems all is not yet lost for the workers, as the NPP administration is leaving no stone unturned to revive the company in tune with its declaration of Golden Age of Business (GAB).

Chronicle can reveal that a group of investors from Czech Republic, led by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. S. K. Boafo, visited the company on March 12, 2002 and had shown keen interest in the shoe factory.

Nana Agyeman Tiatoa Siriboa, general manager of the company, later in an interview told Chronicle that the Kumasi Shoe Factory is still viable and nobody should write the company off or think it may collapse.

He disclosed that the NPP administration, having the company at heart, on July 26, 2001, circulated letters to various security agencies and government organizations directing them to only purchase their working boots from the company.

With this letter, a sign of relief to the staff which the previous government failed woefully to do, nearly collapsing the company, is yielding results as Ghana Armed Forces has requested 6,000 pair of boots, Ghana Fire Service - 8,000 boots, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) also requested 600 boots with Ghana Immigration Service - 50 boots.

Others, including Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA), Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Ghana Railway Corporation, are yet to make their request.

However, Siriboe, who is also the paramount chief of Juaso in the Ashanti Akyem North district, hinted that the country's only shoe factory will need between $13 million and $15 million from an investor to enable it operate fully and produce about 560,000 assorted foot wears, with whuch the company could break through both local and the West African sub-region