Protest At TOR: Staff Threaten To Lock-Up CEO

Information gathered by The New Crusading Guide indicates that tension is mounting at the Tema Oil Refinery with the entire staff of the agency threatening to lock up the company�s Chief Executive Officer, Kwame Ampofo, for refusing to pay their Social Security and other contributions. A letter intercepted by newsmen dated 9 February, 2010 reflects the grievances of the workers who claim that their contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust had not been paid for the past seven months. According to them, deductions are made from their salaries at the end of every month by the accounts department of TOR but these monies are not paid to the appropriate quarters. �We went to SSNIT individually to check the monies paid into our accounts and it was disgusting to see the level of cheating going ton there and the abuse of our pension scheme. They take our monies and use them to buy big vehicles and other things and refuse to account or care for us,� one of the aggrieved staff stated. �We shall who them what it take to respect our rights,� he added. The workers, mainly from the local union of the General Trade and petroleum Chemical Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress, mentioned a number of allegations leveled against Dr Kwame Ampofo and his management team. This includes their decision to auction some critical and important spare parts that were imported by the previous administration to undertake repair works at TOR. These items and some fire fighting trucks had been locked up at the various air and seaports. Besides, deduction from workers� salaries toward IRS, SSNIT, Provident Fund, Credit Union fund, TUC Dues and personal insurance premiums, had not been paid by the company for over seven months. �In addition to these, a piece of land belonging to TOR which is located behind the Ghana Oil Company (Goil) has been sold to a private individual,� the workers stated. They described these issues as very urgent since they directly affect their lives, and have therefore warned the management of the company and its Chief Executive to as a matter of urgency, resolve these issues immediately or they would be compelled to deal with them drastically until their concerns were addressed. �We know all the corners of TOR and if they play with us, we will sing a song for them to dance,� they added. Meanwhile, several attempts made by the New Crusading Guide to seek the reaction of Abba Lokko, Public Relations Officer of TOR on the issue were fruitless after she failed to respond to the reporter�s phone calls. She however, answered a text message that she was in a meeting and would get back.