Metro-Transit Company workers on strike

Accra, Feb.16, GNA - About 300 workers of the Metro Mass Transit Company Limited, an intra-city transport company, on Monday began a strike action in Accra to back their demand for the signing of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with their Management.

They threatened to continue their action until the Management resolved the issue about the signing of the CBA once and for all and improved their working conditions.

Mr Samuel Boateng, Spokesperson for the workers, told the Ghana News Agency that the Management had been insensitive to their plight and had not given them any appointment letter for more than one year that they had worked with the company.

He accused the Management of cheating the workers and paying them low salaries and denying them medical facilities.

Mr Boateng cited instances of death of a number of workers due to the lack of medical facilities, and added that some workers had not been paid their salaries for seven months.

He said they had been to the Castle twice, and met Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President John Agyekum Kufuor and sent their grievances to the Labour Department but to no avail.

Mr Osafo Mensah, Principal of the Government Training Centre and Interim Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company said the stakeholders in the Company would be meeting the Road and Transport Minister soon to chart the way forward.

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Prudential Bank, State Insurance Company and the National Investment Bank are 55 per cent shareholders in the Company while the Government holds 45 per cent.

Mr Ken Anku, Head of Public Relations, Ministry of Roads and Transport, who spoke on behalf of the Sector Minister, told the GNA it was totally false that the workers had not been issued with appointment letters. He said the workers had been inconsistent in their requests and added that Management could only sign the CBA with a proper and recognised union, which he said did not exist in the Company. Mr Anku said the Management would, however, negotiate with the workers through their elected representatives within six weeks.