Railway Workers Strike Over Salary Arrears

Railway workers who offer services to passengers on the Accra-Tema-Nsawam railway lines have embarked on an indefinite strike.

According to them, they embarked on the strike to protest against the failure of government to pay their three months salary arrears and also dissolve the board of the Ghana Railway Company Limited.

The railway workers earlier this month served notice to embark on an industrial action if their grievances were not resolved.

However, weeks after they made their intentions known, they said their grievances had not been addressed.

The General Secretary of the Railway Workers Union, Godwill Ntarmah, who spoke to Citi newssaid, “We have withdrawn our service from Friday morning. This is as a result of the National Executive’s council meeting we held.”

He said the union took the decision because the workers could not allow the situation of unpaid salary arrears to persist in the Christmas period.

“The conclusion we came to was that since October, railway workers have not been paid and we thought going into the Christmas, it would be very difficult for us to allow the situation to continue so we gave management of the company up to 18th December to ensure the full payment of salaries for the railway works,” Ntarmah said.

Workers Demand

The union is demanding the full payment of salaries from October to December 2015, immediate dissolution of board of directors of the company, a guarantee that salaries will be paid at the end of the month and salary adjustments.

“If all these things are met, we will go back to work,” Ntarmah said.