Metro Mass Transit workers on strike

Page 31
March 3, 2009

Workers of the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMTL) yesterday began a nation-wide strike to press home their demands for better salary conditions.
The 3,200 workers, who are also calling for the immediate removal of the Managing Director of the company, Mr Visschers Henk, for what they describe as acts of mismanagement, include drivers and conductors of the Metro Mass buses and mechanics.
Following the industrial action, the 1,200 buses of the company are also grounded.
When the Daily Graphic team got to the head office of the MMTL at Kaneshie about 8.10 a.m. yesterday, the main gate to the yard was locked, with the buses parked inside.
With some clad in red attires, the workers were seen in groups discussing the stand-off with management.
"From the action of the workers, the company will lose GH¢100,000 today and this is not good," Mr Henk told the Daily Graphic, after his efforts to talk the workers into calling off their action had failed.
The Chairman of the workers' union, Mr J.K. Ahenkorah, said the action followed management's unilateral decision to pay a 10 per cent increase in workers salaries when the Standing Joint Negotiating Committee had not agreed to that percentage increase.
He said when the Union asked for the 10 per cent increase across board to be stopped until negotiations were concluded, the MD refused and went ahead to pay it at the end of February, adding that even with that payment there were wrongful deductions.
However, a letter signed by the Chairman of the Standing Joint Negotiation Committee, Mr Martin Afram, read, "We would also want to assure you that the difference between the agreed salary levels and the 10 per cent increase already paid to workers shall be paid to the workers as accumulated back pay."
Mr Ahenkorah said the workers were also calling for the immediate removal of Mr Henk because his mismanagement of the company would lead to its collapse.
He said, for instance, that the MD only paid attention to and repaired the buses from Holland, where he was from, and ignored broken down buses from China and India which had developed petty faults.
The Secretary of the Union, Mr J.K. Arthur, who said the workers started wearing red arm bands five weeks ago to signal management of their action, indicated that negotiations started on the matter in November last year.
He said the union and the management had met about 10 times on the matter, with the last being on Friday, February 27, 2008, which ended in a deadlock.
He said the workers were asking for a 50 per cent salary increase across board but management was not prepared to pay that, resulting in the meeting ending in a deadlock, adding that the Trades Union Congress and the National Labour Commission were aware of their action and grievances.
Mr Arthur said the salaries of the workers were nothing to write home about, and that "until we hear something good we will not work".
He said the gross salary for a new conductor was GH¢100; a new mechanic, GH¢110, and a new driver, GH¢120 per month.
For his part, Mr Henk said the demands of the workers could not be met because of the financial position of the company, saying that "we are not making profit, since we are not sustainable yet".
He said management had a mandate from the board to negotiate for a 30 per cent increase.
"Last week we were almost there. We were offering GH¢40 across board and the union was asking for GH¢45," he said, and indicated that management had offered to open its books and present its financial report to the union for it to see the reality on the ground.
Mr Henk said although the 30 per cent salary increase was on a high side, management was ready to pay and indicated that the payment of the 10 per cent was only to cushion the workers as negotiations went on, since the negotiations were taking so much time.
He expressed shock at the turn of events and said although they were still negotiating, the union had decided to go on strike.
Mr Henk apologised to the travelling public for the inconvenience.
He denied the charges of mismanagement and said he treated all the buses equally, since they belonged to one company.
Meanwhile, the letter from the Chairman of the Standing Joint Negotiation Committee (SJNC) said in view of the stalled salary negotiations, management was inviting the union to a SJNC meeting on Wednesday, March 4, 2008 to ensure an expeditious settlement of the matter.
Benjamin Xornam Glover reports from Bolgatanga that staff of the MMTL in the Upper East this morning joined their colleagues elsewhere in a nation-wide sit-down strike in demand for reasonable salaries and conditions of service.
The strike has brought pain and frustration to the travelling public in the region, majority of whom rely on the services of the MMTL.
Speaking to the media, the Upper East Regional Manager of the MMTL, Mr Stephen Abukari, decried the action of the staff, intimating that the strike had really had an effect on the people of the region, especially the poor.
He stressed that the situation could get worse in the coming days if the buses did not get back to the road.
In Kumasi, the workers commenced a peaceful demonstration to draw public attention to their conditions of services, writes Enoch Darfah Frimpong from Kumasi.
They called for Mr Henk’s resignation before they would resume work and accused the MD of contributing to what they termed as “the sinking image of the company as a result of poor management”.
The Vice-Chairman of the Local Union, Mr Curtis Osei Bonsu, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said the worker’s felt that the management headed by the MD had not been able to solve the basic problems of the organisation and the workers, resulting in the grounding of about half of the 1,000 buses they were operating with.
He said another reason for their action was that for the seven years that some of them had been working for the company, their conditions of service had been very poor and that the MD had indicated his preparedness not to work with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
He said salaries were on the low side, with many of the drivers taking home GH¢120 at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, some passengers who were stranded on arrival at the premises of MMTL had no option but join other transport service providers to continue with their journey, though at higher cost.