Railway workers ‘chase’ union leader over unpaid salaries

The entire staff population of Ghana Railway Company in Sekondi/Takoradi gathered Monday at the Famous Bottom Tree grounds in Ketan to demand answers over their unpaid salaries.

The angry workers had invited their Union Secretary, Goodwill Ntarmah, to come and answer why they have not received any salary for over three months.

The disgruntled workers were, however, disappointed as they waited the whole day without their union leader surfacing.

“We had already invited him to come and explain to us why our salaries are not being paid. He assured us of coming but we waited for him almost the whole day and he did not show up. We have been calling him but no response. We have worked and no salaries have been hitting our accounts. We have families who depend on us but nobody has told us what is going on. We are inviting him for questions and he has refused to attend,” some of the angry workers told Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the host of Connect FM’s Omanbapa morning show.

No reason has been given as yet for the absence of Mr. Ntarmah but given the history behind the venue of the meeting, it is believed the aggrieved workers might have mishandled him.

Mr. Ntarmah is scheduled to address the press on the state of the company and other matters on Tuesday, August 22 at the Company’s Headquarters in Takoradi.

This is seen as part of the reasons for his non-response to the workers invitation.

The workers, numbering over 500, have vowed to converge at the same venue again till they hear from their leader, whom they claim was elected to fight their cause and so must heed to their call.

It would be recalled the 2006 group of retrenched workers who have not been paid their severance award recently secured a garnishee order from the court, preventing the railway company to touch its bank account, and this has since prevented the workers from being paid.

Chairman of the retrenched workers John Kojo Appiah in May this year told Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson that the injunction was ordered by the Sekondi High Court after all efforts to retrieve their locked-up funds proved futile.

“The Cape Coast Appeals Court ordered the payment of our money in 2015,” he had said.

“Since then, the company has refused to pay the money to us and all efforts have proven unsuccessful. Our lawyer led us and an injunction has been placed on the accounts where salaries of workers are paid from.”

Ghana Railway currently relies only on part of its revenue from the carting of bauxite from Nsuta to Takoradi to pay the workers.