The General Secretary of the General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union Fuseini Idrissu has defended an intended strike by Ghanaian workers in the petroleum sector on Tuesday, November 18 to demand MODEC workers to be re-instated unconditionally .
The solidarity strike, which will be backed by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), will involve workers of the Petroleum Tankers Union; the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), Bulk Oil Storage & Transportation Co. Ltd. (BOST), Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) among others.
The strike, if effected could lead to fuel shortages and cripple the petroleum sector.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LfZ56E8ttqrncggPQPQTmvEoevJSUMrj”]The General Secretary speaking on the Eyewitnes News said the rationale behind Tuesday’s strike is for the government and authorities to listen to the plights of the workers.
“If the government is sensitive to the plight of the workers, we think that they should be able to pick a decision to revert what we are planning to do tomorrow,” he said.
MODEC dismissed about forty (40) of its Ghanaian workers who refused to sign a bond to be of good behaviour after being on strike to demand an increment in their salaries.
12 Ghanaians working with MODEC, on November 11 also laid down their tools to demand the reinstatement of their colleagues that were sacked.
Mr Idrissu further stated that the union is only interested to send a signal to the government to ensure the workers.
“Whoever is supposed to ensure that the right thing is done should come out today to do that,”he advised.
The General Secretary said that the government has failed to reprimand MODEC for what it did.
This strike action by the union is expected to likely affect fuel supplies in different areas in the country.
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By: Patricia Conteh/Citifmonline/Ghana