The Ghana Railway Workers Union (GRWU) has warned of possible agitations by its members, if President Akufo-Addo fails to address the ongoing impasse between government and the Ghana Manganese Company, which has had to halt its operations since December 2019.
The company had to suspend its operations after it exceeded its export target of 5 million metric tonnes of manganese ore for 2019, a development which government is not happy about.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the current impasse, the General Secretary of the Ghana Railway Workers Union (whose members are responsible for the haulage of manganese ore from Nsuta to Takoradi) Godwill Ntarmah, says government will have to step in to provide financial support to workers if things stay as they are.
“As things stand, our December salaries have not been paid. If the situation continues then paying salaries in January will become a challenge and government will have to come and dole out money for salary payment. This, in our opinion, is not sustainable. Now workers are in employment and are not paid salaries they will end up agitating and no one knows what can happen once workers start agitating.”
Mr. Ntarmah further revealed that instead of sticking to an export target of 5 million metric tonnes of manganese ore for 2019, the Ghana Manganese Company ended up exporting 5.8 million metric tonnes of manganese ore. And this he says is the reason for the ongoing impasse.
In an interview with Citi Business News a highly placed source at Ghana Manganese Company said discussions were ongoing with the government to address all issues relating to the operations of the company to ensure that it resumes operations.
When pushed to reveal how soon they’ll start working, the source couldn’t say.
Source: citibusinessnews
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