Union and management of Tema shipyard aligned on labour restructuring exercise

The Union and Management of the Tema Shipyard are aligned when it comes to the imminent Labour Restructuring Exercise.

The Tema Shipyard Limited Local Union of the National Union of Seamen, Ports and Allied Workers (NUSPAW) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has released a statement to disabuse reports circulating in certain media circles suggesting that labor and management are divided pertaining to the Labour Restructuring Exercise.

A letter to TV3 dated November 8, 2022, indicated that “NUSPAW which is the certified union and mouthpiece of the workers in conjunction with the Management has gone through all the processes outlined in the Labor Act (Act 651 2003) and wish to state that all relevant procedures have been followed before management arrived at the final decision to carry out the ongoing Labour Restructuring Exercise which your program spoke about.”

The letter also stated that “majority of workers in Tema Shipyard are in support of the Restructuring Exercise.’’

The union also hinted that they believe the restructuring exercise is part of the strategies necessary to return the Shipyard into competitiveness.

The others being, massive capital injection and modern technology.

The Union said after several efforts of government to revitalize the Shipyard has been unsuccessful, other approaches such as the Restructuring Exercise has become essential in order to match up or surpass competition in Senegal, Equatorial Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire.

“The operations at these Shipyards are very different in terms of the labor setup. That is why these shipyards are doing very well and far better and operating more efficiently than the Tema Shipyard.”

The union also praised the Transport Minister for the continuous work he has done in balancing the revival of the Tema Shipyard and Labour Welfare.

“Under the able leadership of the sector Minister, Honorable Asiamah, Shipyard workers were paid from government resources for a period of 11 months which we, as workers are most grateful to him.

"The Minister, during a certain period where the Yard has been without vessels for about 4 months, the Minister single handedly secured vessels to the shipyard for repairs to keep the shipyard moving. The vision of the sector Minister and the CEO, Dr. Alexander Adusei Jnr. is to operate the Shipyard in similar model in order to triple the current labour force when the Yard is operating efficiently with Private Capital Injection.”