Mövenpick saga: 'This isn't any serious matter they can't jaw-jaw about' – MP

Aggrieved workers of Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel must use dialogue to resolve their grievances with the management, the Chairman of the Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprise Committee of Parliament, Mr Ayim Adu-Antwi, has said.

The workers were scheduled to meet the management of the hotel on Thursday, 18 April 2019 over alleged racial discrimination against Ghanaian workers.

The meeting followed a strike by the workers on Wednesday.

The meeting will also involve the Industrial & Commercial Workers Union.

According to the workers, Ghanaian staff are treated harshly and dismissed for misdemeanours while expatriate staff are let off the hook for the same offences.

They have also threatened to embark on another strike if the General Manager, Michael Rathgeb is not removed.

However, Mr Adu-Antwi told Class91.3FM on Thursday that when situations such as that arise for the first time, “I mean industrial action is never the best. To me, dialogue [is the way to go]. … When it’s government employment, you could be reinstated if you’re dismissed, but [with] the private one, the employer doesn’t need a reason to terminate your appointment; straightaway, you could be dismissed. Once your employers target you, you could just be dismissed that you’re actually bringing unrest into the company.”

“I would rather say that the union must come together and seek an audience with the employers. This is not any serious matter that they cannot go to the settlement table and discuss and that would be my advice. Obviously, the company will not be closed down; obviously, the company would continue to employ, either to engage these employees or take other employees. The issues would continue to come. The issues would continue to be raised”, so, he urged them “to go to the settlement table and then jaw-jaw and find a solution to this”.

“The labour office, the labour commission is there, they can even petition for a solution to the problem.”