Staff laid off due to coronavirus besiege hotel for ‘salaries’

Over 81 permanent workers of the Ridge Royal Hotel in Cape Coast in the Central Region besieged the premises, demanding the payment of their April salaries.

The workers chanted war songs as part of a protest to register their anger against management.

The Ridge Royal Hotel has been operating since 2019 after being established via a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as majority shareholders.

It operated with about 90 permanent workers.

But it temporarily shut down as the effect of the coronavirus pandemic hit hard.

A memorandum of understanding sighted by 3news.com and signed by General Manager Samuel Aduama to all staff on March 26, 2020 communicated the decision.

As discussed and approved by the board, the hotel shut down operations and stopped receiving guests from April 1, 2020.

All staff were to stay home until further notice with only selected essential staff to maintain the property.

Affected staff were assured of their March salaries in full as a goodwill gesture while they will be paid half salaries in April and May. They were told that after May, 2020 until the Covid-19 situation normalizes and full operation is permitted, they will not get any payment.

The protesting staff on Monday, May 11 told Onua FM’s Kwame Kakraba that delay in the payment of the assured salaries has brought untold hardship to them and their families.

“We are appealing to SSNIT board, Central Regional Minister Kwamena Duncan and Oguaa Paramount Chief Osabarima Kwesi Atta ll to come to our aid.”

Local Union Chairman Samuel Aboagye said they are very disappointed on how the manager of the hotel Mr Samuel Aduama handled the issue.

He explained that a meeting was held between the workers, leaders of Central Regional Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU) in March and the workers were asked to go home until further notice.

The agreements on payment was clearly spelt out, the workers said.

“Therefore, we as workers are giving the management of the hotel up to Friday coming to pay us,” Mr Aboagye stressed.

The Central Regional ICU chairman, Moses Otoo, addressing the workers at the hotel premises, stressed that it is so unfortunate that as employees who have so much been dedicated to duty, they be treated like this.

The local union chairman is said to have written to the ICU and discussed with management of the hotel, resulting in the agreements reached.

He commended the workers for not taking the law into their own hands during the protest and assured them to exercise patience as the ICU works to resolve the issues.

In an exclusive interview with Kwame Karkaba, Mr Aduama appealed to the workers to exercise patience as he says management is doing its best to resolve the problem.

The hotel can’t operate without workers, he noted.