'Reopen factory or face Labour Commission' - ICU to Mangament of Ameen Sangaria

Deputy General Secretary in charge of operations at the Industrial Commercial and Workers Union, Morgan Ayawine has directed the management of the Ameen Sangaria factory, located at Cape Coast in the Central Region to reopen the factory to workers to resume work by Wednesday, 4 March 2020 or face the Labour Commission.

The directive follows the closure of the factory by management on Monday, 2 March preventing workers from entering the premises.

Management in a notice posted at the entrance of the factory requested workers to go back home while they await their February salaries.

“Management has handed on Friday, February 28, 2020 the accounts department the salaries of all the workers for the month of February 2020 for immediate payment. All workers must enter the yard, one-at-a-time on Monday, March 2nd, 2020 to collect their February salaries.”

The action of the management came after both parties were unable to reach an agreement at a meeting on Friday to address concerns of the workers including the payment of salary arrears and redundancy packages.

Both parties agreed to continue with deliberations at another meeting scheduled for Monday only for the workers to be greeted with a notice at the entrance of the factory.

Meanwhile, attempts by the Local ICU officer for Cape Coast, Moses Kwaku Otoo to dialogue with the management of the factory proved futile as he was disallowed entry into the factory on Monday.

National ICU officers were also denied entry into the premises of the factory on Tuesday morning until the intervention of the Regional Police Command.

Mr. Ayawine who was accompanied by the National Industrial Relations Officer of the ICU, Maku Vondee in an address to the Press, called for calm and disclosed that a consensus was reached between his office and the factory’s management to reopen the factory to workers by Wednesday, 3 March 2020 or they will be dragged to the Labour Commission.