By Kodjo Adams
Accra, June 2, GNA – Organised Labour has given one month ultimatum to Sunon Asogli Power to reinstate three union leaders dismissed by the Company.
It asked the Company to do the needful or face its wrath by June 26 after all efforts aimed at engaging stakeholders to address the situation proved futile.
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, the Secretary-General, Trades Union Congress, at a media briefing in Accra, said it was the right of every worker to join a union without intimidation or any form of abuse.
He expressed concerns about the entrenched position of the Company, saying the Union would legitimately ensure that the dismissed workers were reinstated.
The Mineworkers’ Union at a press briefing on March 3, 2023, highlighted alleged violations of the fundamental rights of workers by the management of Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, leading to the unfair termination of the engagement of three local union leaders.
The Union stated that stakeholder meetings and interventions by State actors, including, the Ministries for Energy, Employment and Labour Relations, Foreign Affairs, the National Labour Commission, the Labour Department, and His Royal Majesty, Togbe Afede IV, on the issue could not yield any positive outcome.
The leadership of the TUC Ghana on March 27, 2023, in solidarity with unionised workers of Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited, demanded the reinstatement of the three dismissed local union leaders, but their demands fell on deaf ears.
The Union said it was convinced that, the termination of the appointments of the three local union leaders – Chairperson, Secretary and Assistant Secretary – was unfair and an injustice and that after a month if nothing was done, they would take action.
Background
Some 68 workers of the Company joined the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union in February 2021.
The Union and the workers went through the necessary legal processes to acquire a Collective Bargaining Certificate that empowered the Union to represent and negotiate with the Company on behalf of the workers.
But the Company has refused to recognise the Union and dismissed the leaders.
GNA