Labour Commission averts strike by GCB workers

The Labour Commission, after a marathon meeting yesterday with the leaders of the local union of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) at Dan’s Cottage in Dzorwulu, Accra, succeeded in averting a nationwide strike by workers of the bank.

The strike was scheduled to begin today and would have crippled the operations of Ghana’s biggest bank nationwide.

Led by Prof. Kofi Akafia and Jerome Afia with Austin Gamey of Gamey & Gamey Associates in attendance, the Labour Commission managed to prevail on the leaders of the workers to postpone their strike action indefinitely to enable them take up the matter with management of the bank.

Workers of the bank had planned to embark on a strike following stalled negotiations over their 2013/2014 collective agreement review. The workers are aggrieved over the fact that following negotiations with the two Deputy Managing Directors of the bank, Kojo Addae Mensah and Samuel Sarpong, representing management, it was agreed that workers salaries be reviewed upwards by 20%.

However, Simon Dornoo, the Managing Director, reneged on the agreement, offering the workers 9% increment, an offer the workers rejected.

After talks with the leadership of the Local Union yesterday, the Labour Commission is scheduled to meet management of the bank for further discussions aimed at resolving the impasse.