Airways Catering Fires 60 Striking Staff

MANAGEMENT OF Airways Catering Limited (ACL), handlers of laundry and catering services at the Kotoka International Airport for all flights to and from Ghana, has dismissed about 60 workers who recently embarked upon what management said was an illegal strike action.

Mr. Samuel Tindanbil, Finance Manager of the company, told The Chronicle in an interview yesterday that the dismissed staff embarked on the strike without any prior notice to management and emphasized that the conditions and demands the workers cited for their action were those that did not fall within the powers of management to meet.

Mr. Tindanbil told the paper that the issues raised by the striking workers as was gathered by management after the strike action, bordered on security matters that involved the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) whose work management could not interfere with.

A press release issued by the management of the company, indicated that on March 21, 2007, management of the company reported to work only to realize that a large number of workers had failed to turn up for work.

It said subsequent enquiries by management revealed that the local union chapter of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTP&CWU) had led a section of the company's workers to declare " an illegal strike action with absolutely no notice to us as required by the Labour Law. The workers have to date not reported for work, causing the company to lose millions of cedis."

The release said management later realized that the reason for the strike action was that they were accusing management of having instigated the arrest of two executive members of the local union by the BNI and therefore threatened that they would not return to work until the two union executives had been released by the security establishment.

It stated that, "management would like to state categorically that we are not responsible for the arrest of the affected union members," and went on to explain that about a month ago, the attention of management was drawn to unauthorized withdrawals of money from the company's account with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to certain accounts belonging to some two companies.

"Having been satisfied by our bankers that these withdrawals were not originating from us, the ADB initiated a move by reporting the case to the BNI for further investigations. Subsequently, several staff of ACL were invited by the BNI for interrogations upon which some were set free and others granted bail with sureties," the release by the management contained.

It further explained that on March 15, management was notified by the BNI of the arrest of four officers of the Hygiene Unit of the company namely, Messrs Solomon Bababila, local Union Chairman; Patrick Adjei Danquah, local Union Trustee, as well as Emmanuel Mensah and Daniel Addo who are both Union Members.

The release reiterated that management had no knowledge of what happened for the four to be arrested by the BNI and emphasized that since they have subsequently been remanded by a Court of law, management had no power to get them released even if it had the desire to do so.

"In order to establish our good faith in all the foregoing, management organized a workers forum on Wednesday, 19 March, to explain the issues and our innocence to the entire staff," the release stated and expressed surprise that the workers could resort to a strike action after such a forum.

The management said it however could not condone, "acts intended to undo and undermine the progress of the company," and resolved that, "in consultation with our legal counsel and labour experts as per sections 168 (4) of the Labour Act 2003, (Act 651)," the company has arrived at the conclusion that all workers who voluntarily engaged in or took part in the strike are dismissed and those of them who would want to be re-engaged by the company should re-apply.