Greenview International Places Premium On Workers Welfare

At the time when there are so many upheavals on the labour front over poor conditions of service for factory workers, Greenview International Company, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, producers of Grey Portland Cement at Tema has offered it workers the best of packages.

The company that has broken the monopoly of old cement producing companies has a policy that places the worker at the center of its operation. Presently, the over 330 workers are enjoying free medical care, free transportation, free toiletries, free lunch and nutritional provision in addition to other fringe benefits.

Alhaji Tajudeen A. Sijuade, Vice-Chairman of Greenview International Company told selected journalist that the welfare of workers was one of the topmost priorities of the company.

“The worker will offer his or her maximum best when he or she feels that there is right treatment,” he said

He said that the mother company, Dangote Group, which is the largest cement manufacturing company in Africa, does not play with the welfare of workers and that policy should be replicated in Ghana.

According to him, it was the management of the company that called on the workers to form a union.

“You know to be successful company, it is important to get on very well with the workers and that was the reason we felt the union must be formed,” he said. Alhaji Sijuade said that healthy atmosphere and relations between management and worker would be ensured always as management would be ready to listen to the workers. Greenview International started the production of Grey Portland Cement in Ghana in February 2010. Its present investment in plant and machinery at the Tema factory is over $18million.

There are plans by the company to set up another factory at Takoradi in the Western Region and should that come into fruition, its total investment in Ghana would be more than $38million dollars.

Again, the Takoradi factory is also expected to create employment for over 300 people in the area.

Since the inception of the company, the situation where cement users had to queue to get consignment from the old cement producing companies has ceased. The speed with which Greenview International took the market made Ghacem and Diamond Cement to commence with efforts to sabotage the company as they started raising flags against Greenview International concerning tax concession that the company is enjoying under the laws of Ghana. However, the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has all cleared Greenview International Company of any wrongdoing. Although, Ghacem and Diamond Cement are accusing Greenview International of using unorthodox means to compete on the market, the company has remained focus in its quest to break the monopoly prevailing on the market. Alhaji Sijuade told the press that the company was not dealing in finished product as Ghacem and Diamond Cement are alleging but rather was adding value to their product just like the two companies.

He said that the allegation by Ghacam and Diamond cement that the company by the close of 2010 imported about 265,000 tonnes of finished cement into the country, and misclassified it as raw materials. And as such paid concessionary duty of 5% instead of 20% is erroneous and misleading.

“Greenview International does not bring finished product into the country and it is not for Ghacem and Diamond to decide what is finished product and raw material. The government and all those who matters have cleared us and we are in for clean competition,” he said.

According to him, Greenview decided to bring powered clinker because of ecological reasons.

“We do not bring raw clinker to Ghana because the whole world is now working to protect the environment. Discharging raw clinker from vessel will create dust that will pollute the environment and that will have effect on humans and aquatic life,” he said.

Alhaji Sijuade told the press that Greenview being a Nigerian company could have gone ahead to bring finished bagged cement from Nigeria and would enjoy the ECOWAS protocol but because it wanted to create employment it decided to establish the factory.

“You know, there have been several attempts to sabotage us but we want healthy business so we have decided to ignore them,” he added.