Museums workers give ultimatum

Accra - Workers of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) throughout the country have threatened to withdraw their services by the 15th of this month if their arrears and new salaries announced by the government, since 1999, are not paid, Chronicle was told last week.

According to them, they have been receiving the old salaries since the 1998 salary adjustments.

They contended that as a result, they have been hit strongly by the economic hardship currently plaguing the country, especially with the very low salary and wages paid to them by the board.

Speaking to the Ghanaian Chronicle, a worker, who pleaded anonymity, said having worked with the board for over 20 years, his take-home pay is less than ?100,000 and wanted to know how he is expected to survive under such harsh conditions, coupled with its high school fees, medical bills, rents and other utility bills.

They also said that the board had been deceiving them at several meetings on the issue for far too long and this time round " we will not sit down for them to toy with us any longer", they stressed.

The workers in the two historic castles in Elmina and Cape Coast claimed that they collect revenues accruing from tourism annually and therefore did not see why they should be treated like children in primary schools.

Asked why they had waited all that time without any action to seek redress, the workers told the Chronicle that their action this time is because from July, this year, the board is expected to collect so much money during the month which is the peak of the tourism season hence their action to get what is due to them.

They said their warning should not be taken for granted because, "we mean every bit of what we have said."

The workers also pointed out that they had been paid almost every 29th day of the following month for some time now and questioned why this has been so without any improvement.