FPSO Workers Call Off Strike

The striking workers operating the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah at the Jubilee Fields in the Western region have called off their strike. They have since been airlifted from the production platform of FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to the shore for further deliberation on their conditions of service. The agitated workers arrived at that decision after a marathon meeting on Thursday. They began the strike last Tuesday after their demand through their mother union for better conditions of service earlier this month failed to yield fruitful results. All stakeholders involved are also due in Accra on November 3 to find an amicable settlement to the issue, the General Secretary of the General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of the TUC has said. Numbering 40 and employed by MODEC Ghana Limited, the company that operates the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah the workers claimed their conditions of service were poor as compared to their expatriate counterparts. They claim they embark on essential operations on the FPSO such as maintenance, operation, marine and utilities in the same environment as their expatriate colleagues who have far better working conditions than them. Receiving an average salary of between GH�2,500 and GH�3,000 a month, they said their expatriate counterparts are paid about 800 per cent higher in foreign currency and that foreigners who are not even up to their standards take an average of about $5,000 to $10,000 a month. The Petroleum Commission in a statement has said the strike could have a bad effect on the country�s economy. �Any hour of operational disruption costs the nation significant amount of money in terms of operational cost and lost revenues,� the Commission said adding that It was regrettable that an industrial action has taken place at a time when the Petroleum Commission was working assiduously with various stakeholders to improve the conditions of service of workers in the upstream petroleum industry.