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An intended strike action by the General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) against Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company Ltd (MODEC) on Tuesday over delay s in the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two bodies was called off after the Petroleum Minister’s intervention.

Mr. Edward Bawa, Head of Communications at the Energy Ministry on Tuesday explained that a specific instruction by Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah to MODEC management to abide by the MOU resulted in the call off.

It would be recalled that, between October 27 and 30, 2014, Workers of MODEC engaged in a strike action onboard the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah stating various reasons for their actions.

Consequent to that, about 18 of those workers were dismissed for their direct involvement in the strike action which was described by the Management of MODEC as unlawful.

A meeting was then held subsequently involving all stakeholders on November 14, 2014 at the behest of the Minister for Petroleum and the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations to create a platform for the two parties to iron out their differences.

All parties later agreed that the union, while communicating to management apologize for their unfortunate events and commit to ensuring that such an act does not recur, after which workers would be re-instated and thus obey lawful instructions issued by MODEC.

The agreement again stated that management would exercise its right to train without complaints from employees as well as (workers) sign an undertaking to be of good behavior and also ensure the protection and safety of other employees as well as the FPSO facility.

Lastly the workers agreed not to engage in any industrial action onboard the FPSO.

Meanwhile, according to the statement, the Minister on Tuesday pointed out that, there was evidence to prove that MODEC workers have abided by the provisions of the 14th November, 2014 MOU, making it imperative for MODEC Management to do same.

“All Parties agreed to recommit to the provisions of the MOU. The union subsequently has promised to call off the intended strike while they wait for Management to implement the MOU”, the statement added.