The Tema District Council of Labour (TDCL) has given government two weeks to reduce fuel prices and fix the current “dumsor problems without further excuses.”
“World prices of crude oil have fallen drastically but government has blatantly refused to reduce the prices of fuel under the pretext that government is owing the Bulk Distribution Companies, thus, setting aside the laid down automatic adjustment formula being used in adjusting fuel prices without respecting the views of the TUC and other stakeholders”.
This was contained in a communiqué reached at the end of the TDCL’s Executive meeting held on Tuesday, March 10 2015.
The TDCL at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction and displeasure in the way government was handling the electricity power outages and government’s refusal to reduce fuel prices even though world prices of crude oil “have dropped down drastically”.
“Tema, being the industrial hub of the nation is being affected seriously by the electricity power outages as most of our factories and manufacturing firms have been forced to produce below average and even the acceptable production quantities thus, operating at a loss”, the statement signed by the TDCL’s Chairman, Wilson Agana and Secretary, Ebenezer Kodwo Taylor stated.
Some companies have shut down and hundreds of employers have been laid-off due to the ongoing power crisis, with several other companies threatening to lay-off some more workers.
Despite the current challenges, the TDCL expressed optimism President John Mahama will do everything to ensure his “government fixes this uncomfortable electricity power outages and further reduce fuel prices to ensure industrial peace and harmony” especially in the Tema, “the industrial hub of the nation” and most affected by the dumsor challenges.
Eugenia Tenkorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana