The strike by workers of the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) has cost the nation about $900,000 as of today, exactly one month into the industrial action.
Furthermore, the workers' strike is likely to cost the GRCL and the nation large sums of money in revenue following a threat by timber, bauxite, manganese and cocoa companies whose goods are hauled by rail to find alternative means of transporting their goods.
The Managing Director of the GRCL, Mr Rufus Okai Quaye, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, described the situation as "a big disaster".
He, therefore, appealed to the workers to call off the strike and go back to work in order to salvage the company from collapse.
Workers of the GRCL have been on strike since February 12, 2008, demanding a 150 per cent upward adjustment in salaries, the payment of four months' salary arrears and the removal of the management and the local union executive.
According to Mr Quaye, the company had been losing an average of $30,000 in revenue daily as a result of the strike.
He confirmed that a cheque for $60,000 had been lodged in the account of the company for the payment of salary arrears covering December 2007 and January 2008, adding that efforts were being made to redeem the, salaries for February.
Mr Quaye, however, noted that the strike and the barricading of the company's offices could not make it possible for accounts offices to prepare pay vouchers to pay the salaries of workers.
Following the industrial action, the National Labour Commission (NLC) intervened by facilitating a negotiation between the leadership of the workers' union and the management in an attempt to resolve the impasse.
At the end of the negotiation on Monday, the NLC directed the workers to call off the strike immediately and return to work unconditionally, while asking management to immediately pay all outstanding arrears due the workers.
Mr Quaye described the negotiation as a victory for democracy, adding that the NLC was the best thing that had happened to the labour front over the past decade.
On the fate of the GRCL, he stressed the need for a comprehensive review of the company's operations to address the problems facing it, particularly funding, explaining that the agitation by the workers for salary increases and other demands all depended on funding.
Mr Quaye said in the past, the operations of the GRCL were subsidised by the state until 1997 when it started operating on fun cost recovery, a policy that created the recent problems.
He agreed with the assertion by some labour experts that the company should have considered laying off some of its workers in the face of the financial difficulties, adding that although such a decision was feasible, it had not been implemented because of the lack of funds to pay severance awards to the workers to be affected. .
Mr Quaye recalled that in 2006 the company decided to retrench 614 workers, a decision which required about $5 million to pay severance awards, but it only managed to pay half of the package to the affected workers, with the balance still outstanding.
"It is not as if management is not aware of the problem. What we need to push the thing up is funding," he indicated.
In a separate interview, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Harbours and Railways, Mr Isaac Dodd, confirmed the release of money into the account of the GRCL for the payment of salary arrears covering the months of December 2007 and January 2008.
He also appealed to the workers to call off the strike and return to work to facilitate the preparation of vouchers for the payment of their salaries.
Earlier, the NLC had directed the workers of the GRCL to call off their strike and return to work immediately while their grievances were resolved, reports Timothy Gobah.
The directive followed a meeting between the workers, the Minister of Harbours and Railways, Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, and the managing director and officials of the GRCL on Monday.
The meeting, which was called at the instance of the NLC to resolve the impasse between the management and the workers of the GRCL, ended without any concrete agreement.
Two previous meetings had been held to broker peace but they could not yield any result, compelling the NLC to involved Section 139 of the Labour Act 2003 to direct the workers to call off the strike.
The NLC further directed the management of the GRCL to immediately pay all outstanding salaries due the workers.
It dismissed the issue of the removal of the GRCL management for lack of jurisdiction, adding that the appointment, promotion and removal of management personnel were the preserve of the employer and/or the owner and as such the issue was referred to the sector minister.
The almost four-hour meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, with everyone contributing to the issues.
Mr Ameyaw-Akumfi, at a meeting with the NLC last Monday, had announced that the government had secured a loan of $90,000, part of which would be used to rehabilitate obsolete equipment and other facilities to get the company running, while about $60,000 would be used to pay salaries.
He gave the assurance that the ministry was doing everything to have the issues raised by the workers resolved and urged the workers to go back to work while the issues were looked into.
At the meeting on Monday, the workers petitioned the President, Mr J A Kufuor, but the NLC advised against it.
Source: MJFM
