The Minister of Transport, Fiifi Kwetey, has called for calm at the Tema Ship yard as his outfit investigates workers’ concerns with their management.
This followed a demonstration organised by the workers during a working tour of the facility by the Minister, during which they called for the dismissal of their Chief Executive Officer, Tunde Ali.
For about a week now, the workers have been up in arms against their CEO and some members of management for what they describe as gross disrespect towards workers and mismanagement of the facility.
According to the workers, Mr. Ali should be immediately replaced with a new person since he has no respect for them.
The Transport Minister’s working visit quickly turned into an attempt at arbitration.
The workers were seen carrying placards, some of which read: ‘shipyard board must be dissolved’, ‘three years without increment’, ‘CEO and HR must go’ amidst chantings of ‘Tunde must go’.
Some of the workers explained their frustration to Citi News saying they were tired of the failed promises adding that salaries have not been increased for three years.
They were also angered by the termination of the appointment of two of their colleagues.
The Minister in the midst of all this had to quickly convene a closed door meeting with management and some union executives to discuss their concerns.
Upon his return from the meeting, he assured the workers he was going to take their concerns into consideration especially the termination of the appointment of their two colleagues.
“We are going to look into the termination properly in order to determine whether the proper procedure has been followed and if they have not been followed, we will take a decision in order to change that position.”
He also urged the workers to reflect on ways that could benefit the company’s growth.
“…so we believe that there may be issues that have to do with you as staff, things that can be done better for this organisation to move forward.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana