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REPORTS available to this paper indicate that unionized workers of Graphic Communications Group Limited were in a state of fear after police allegedly sought to swoop on the union leaders recently. A well-planned attempt to arrest the leadership of the local union, couched under the guise of a simple invitation by the Greater Accra Regional Police Command last week, was foiled through the timely intervention of the executives of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). Our information is that members of the local union have since closed their ranks tighter in pursuit of their common demand for improved working conditions as management unleashed a series of plans to combat the ongoing agitations for better working conditions at the nation�s leading newspaper. Sources within the local union, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were in a state of shock as to why the police would be trailing them for demanding better working conditions. �I can�t believe that the police have been hounding us for questioning management�s decisions and demanding better working conditions,� one such worker said. Despite the open belief that the police action was allegedly instigated by management, the company�s management has sought to distance itself from the action. In a notice posted on the various notice boards of the company, the Public Affairs department said management had no hand in the matter, and indicated that the Managing Director, Kenneth Ashigbey, had personally requested that any further queries by the police be referred to him. It appears, however, that the current stand-off between management and the unionized staff has worsened. The unionized workers, who last issued a seven-day ultimatum to management to return to the negotiating table for the collective agreement, have been angered by management�s decision to fly a Kenyan engineer to Ghana to man the printing machine if the unionized workers decided to go on strike. Board members receiving salaries at Graphic Emerging details from the financial books of Graphic Communications Group Limited reveal very juicy pay packets for the company�s board members, making their position perhaps the most rewarding of the kind in the country. Documents available reveal that the eight immediate past board members of the state-owned media house received a monthly �salary� of at least GH�15,300 during their four-year tenure. As if that were not enough, the board members were also paid GH�5,150 each as monthly sitting allowance, bringing their total monthly �salaries� to GH�20,450. This aside, the board members are also beneficiaries of high-grade ipad gadgets from the managing director, a largesse that has been extended to just a handful of staff in the good books of the managing director, this paper gathered. The revelation is set to raise the temperature of staff agitations within the company, particularly with management, led by the powerful Director of Human Resource and de facto Managing Director Peggy Addo, unwilling to listen to demands by unionized staff for better pay and working conditions. By their mandate, the board of directors should be the supervising body on management to check excesses, abuse, profligacy, and any other actions that could prove counter-productive to the business of the company. To make matters worse, the board of directors has watched on as the stand-off between management and the local union deepens. A few members of the local union, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization, said the board could not escape blame, with one journalist describing the situation as �the dissipation of the company�s resources which we toil for.� The workers cited the recent transfer of some senior journalists (who have led the agitation by unionized staff) to �Siberia� as one of the weapons being deployed by management to silence the vocal few who have dared to question the system. That attempt, they said, incurred the wrath of the �vicious and vindictive regime which has reduced us to modern-day slaves.� The board, they said, continues to watch on unconcerned even when Ken Ashigbey�s transfers, both internal and external, manifest evidence of victimization and have the tendency to set the clock backwards for the newspapers. For instance, the workers raised questions about how persons who have acquired experience in specific terrains could be moved around �just for the fun of it.� The local union of Graphic Communications Group Ltd is in tango with management over �appalling salary levels� within the ranks of unionized staff, and the matter has landed in the court of the Labour Commission after management refused to meet the demands of the unionized staff. Management has argued that the company can only guarantee a 13 per cent increase in workers� salaries, some of which are as low as GH�600 per month, comparatively. But the local union contends that the salary difference between members of management and the unionized staff is too wide to tolerate. It is widely known that the 70 persons in the various management positions take almost 50 per cent of the company�s wage bill, with the more than 300 unionized staff sharing the remaining 50 per cent. Local union members are said to have been angered by the discovery of the salaries of management staff. For instance, the Managing Director, Kenneth Ashigbey, earns GH�13,500; Director of Human Resource, Peggy Addo, GH�10,256; Director of Newspapers, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, GH�9,264; Director of Technical Services, Kwesi Adjei-Kersi, GH�9,678; Solicitor Secretary, Mrs Cecilia Davies, GH�8,078; while the editors of the newspapers take very decent pay cheques too, with Daily Graphic�s Ransford Tetteh leading with GH�7,766. Those salaries, according to sources, exclude weekly and monthly perks such as entertainment allowance and rent allowance of 10 per cent of basic salaries for some categories of management staff. Mistrust is unmistakable between management and unionized staff whose ranks comprise journalists, proofreaders, designers, marketing personnel, engineers, IT experts, among others. On 25 November this year, unionized staff of the company embarked on a protest to compel management to return to the negotiating table which climaxed with the submission of a one-page resolution containing a one-week ultimatum to the management or else, as the workers put it, they would �advise themselves on the way forward.� As if to call the bluff of the local union, management rather sought protection from the National Labour Commission by referring the matter of salary negotiations to the national body. The case is yet to be heard. Resignations Two quick resignations hit the company, which have compounded the internal squabbles that dogged the tenure of Managing Director, Kenneth Ashigbey. Hope K. Adusu, head of research at the company, and Earline Asare-Kissieh, Zonal Manager for the northern regions, have tendered their resignations as the internal heat generated by salary agitations and perceived cronyism take a bad turn. Mr Adusu, who has acted as head of marketing on many occasions, was recently by-passed when the company sought to permanently fill the vacancy, although he had applied for the post. That position is one of a few which have been filled by �close friends� of the managing director since he assumed his current position in 2011. Insiders say they thought Mr Adusu was going to claim the position automatically on account of his qualification, understanding of the job and familiarity with the workings within the newspaper industry. His resignation has earned him respect from the �grassroots� of the workers� front in particular, with many seeing him as a bold character who would not suffer in silence or �be content with chopping from his small corner.� Earline Asare-Kissieh, until recently an assistant marketing manager before her intended transfer to Tamale from the head office, is one of three women pushed around by Mr Ashigbey�s transfer policy which some staff have viewed as �a move to get even with perceived �stubborn� staff.� As one of the competent and experienced hands in the marketing department, her �dislocation� came as a surprise, and after tying the knot within days of her transfer, the option of resignation seemed the logical outcome. Several changes within the company have included transfers of different kinds, while a new position � Strategic Manager � has been created, and the former Procurement Manager, one John Tagoe, has been moved to occupy the new position which has no defined boundaries. The vacuum so created by John Tagoe�s relocation is viewed within the company as the latest attempt to rope in one of the �friends� of the Managing Director, Ken Ashigbey.