Railway workers on strike

Railway workers in Accra have withdrawn their services on passenger trains plying the Accra-Nsawam, Accra-Tema routes.

Speaking to Class News’ Atiewin Mbillah, general secretary for the workers' union and spokesman for the railway workers, Godwill Ntama said the workers will only resume plying the routes if salary arrears from October 2015 are settled and subsequent monthly payments are assured.

The workers also want the dissolution of the board of directors of the Ghana Railway Company Limited, which they feel is ineffective.

Mr. Ntama said: “We withdrew our services this morning (Friday December 18 2015). We are monitoring the situation, now that we have withdrawn our services, to resume work, we need the full payment of our salaries from October to December.”

“We need the immediate dissolution of the board of directors of the railway company limited which workers have found to be very ineffective so far as their welfare and other matters are concerned," Mr. Ntama added.

The workers, he added, “want to be guaranteed that this delay of payment of salaries that sometimes goes as far as three months or four months cannot be continued and that at the end of every month we are supposed to be paid just like other public service workers because Ghana Railway is for the state and we are like other public service workers."

Mr. Ntama lamented that it is almost Christmas and other sectors have received their salaries but they have no money to take care of their families this festive season.

This, according to him, is as a result of the insensitivity of some officials, who have failed to live up to expectation by making sure that workers of the company are paid.

In his words: “We are tired, we are weak, we cannot push the train anymore”.