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Come what may, the planned compulsory lay-off of some 950 workers by Vodafone Ghana will materialise in the last quarter of this year. Albert Don Chebe, Corporate Communications Manager of Vodafone Ghana, who stressed this to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE last Tuesday in Accra, said management of the company was strictly going to follow the negotiations reached between the erstwhile Ghana Telecommunications (GT) Company Limited and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) of GTUC in a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) dated January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2009. Citing a portion of the CBA, Major (rtd) Don Chebe stated: �In the unlikely event of the company being compelled to declare any number of employees redundant, it shall notify the union not less than four (4) calendar months in advance before the final decision is taken. The affected employees shall be informed of the termination of the appointment not less than three (3) months prior to the date. All things being equal, the principle of last in first out shall apply.� Unconfirmed reports hint that old employees in the Human Resource Department are a major target. Since the announcement of this exercise by Vodafone this year, apprehensive workers of the company have resorted to protests against the move in various ways. Instead of collaborating with management on the issue, CWU executives have deliberately shunned all meetings initiated by management. The CBA however states that all workers engaged under a contract of employment for a specified period of time or specified work and those serving a period of probation or qualifying period of employment of reasonable duration determined in advance, as well as workers engaged on a casual basis are exempted from the exercise, the CBA states. In August this year, Isaac Abraham, Chief Manager, Corporate Communications, Vodafone Ghana, said a new organisational structure would evolve by December this year fully automated to reduce duplication. Since Vodafone took over the operations of Ghana Telecom late last year, at least 864 unionized and 78 non-unionized employees have gone on voluntary redundancy with transitional support packages hailed as very attractive. With the third round of redundancy approaching fast, the total number of workers from the over 4,000 inherited by Vodafone from GT would stand at 1,892, after the exercise is carried out. By the terms of the Sales and Purchasing Agreement (SPA) entered into between Government and Vodafone, staffs of the Ghana Telecom University ceased to be under Vodafone Ghana�s care. Currently Vodafone Ghana employs about 3,300 people. Vodafone last year acquired 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom for $950 million on a debt-free, cash-free basis.Vodafone meanwhile expects to pump some $500 million into the company, which is the main fixed line services provider and one of the top three mobile operators in Ghana.