Cocoa gang workers protest poor service conditions

Carriers of Cocoa Beans in the port of Takoradi have expressed a vote of no confidence in companies contracted by Ghana Cocoa Board to employ and manage them and are calling on the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Dr. Stephen Opuni, to deal directly with them else they will be compelled to lay down their tools.

The carriers accuse the companies of short-changing them and only being interested in making money and serving their selfish and parochial interest at the detriment of the generality of the workforce, saying they were fed up with the poor service conditions under which they work.

Chairman of the Cocoa gang workers, Desiree Mawutor George told the M&TD that they intend to stay off work in October, which is the peak season, if COCOBOD does not intervene in the matter by directly dealing with them.

"There are some companies we have worked for and they have run away with our money so we are not ready to work with any of these contractors, they don’t have the interest of this country at heart, they are only interested in making money. They just come here, use us and make the money and go away. We are not slaves, we are not refugees and in short, we are not resuming work until we hear from the chief executive of COCOBOD himself," said Mr. Mawutor when they embarked on a sit down strike last Friday.

According to him, the workers have been exploited and denigrated by these contractors for far too long and that the stance they had taken was to ensure that apart from receiving wages that was commensurate with the work they do, they also strike a deal for better working conditions.

That according to him was the only way they would agree to go back to work, adding that if government and for that matter COCOBOD wants to avoid the situation where tonnes of cocoa were locked up at the port of Takoradi as a result of a similar strike last year, it must act with dispatch to resolve the matter.

A similar action by cocoa carriers for similar reasons saw several thousands of tonnes of cocoa beans locked up in the port of Takoradi and it is feared that if action is not taken anytime soon, the same occurrence will be registered this year too.