The General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), is threatening to embark on strike if the management of MODEC, a private oil company working on Ghana’s FPSO vessel on the Jubilee oil field, does not reinstate the 15 workers who were sacked in 2014.
It can be recalled that Ghanaian workers of MODEC on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, numbering about 40, embarked on an industrial action at sea last year to protest against pay disparities and other poor working conditions.
[contextly_sidebar id=”h2WcILcEfMEEvrStlKVOYwJqclv3xIla”]Following the incident, the management of MODEC later terminated the appointment of 15 of its local workers.
In an interview with Citi News, the Chairman of GTPCWU, Samuel Quarshie said they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MODEC.
“We have fulfilled our part of the MoU by going through every process we are supposed to do and to the extent that the guys have signed an undertaking and we have done everything that we are supposed to do,” he said.
According to him, instead of MODEC going by their word to fulfill their part of the MoU, they had taken a different position.
“They have taken another position that they want to do restructuring in a way to lay off the workers,” he revealed.
Mr. Quarshie hinted at a 24 hour ultimatum to MODEC to reinstate the local workers or face the wrath of the union.
Earlier this year, the leadership of the GTPCWU had been confident MODEC-Ghana, would reinstate all 27 workers.
The Vice Chairman of the Union, Francis Sallah told Citi News that a meeting with the management of MODEC indicated that all 27 were going to be reinstated.
“Management wrote to us, they responded to our letter and they indicated that MOUs that we signed is still being respected,” he had said.
By: Selassie A. Amissah Mensah /citifmonline.com/Ghana