The entire staff population of Ghana Railway Company from Sekondi/Takoradi gathered today at the Famous Bottom Tree grounds at Ketan in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis of the Western Region to demand answers over their unpaid salaries.
The angry workers had invited their Union Secretary Godwill Ntarmah to come and answer why they have not received any salary for over three months.
The disgruntled workers were however disappointed as they waited the whole day but their union leader never surfaced.
“We had already invited him to come and explain to us why our salaries are not being paid. He assured us of coming but we waited for him almost the whole day and he did not show up. We have been calling him but no response. We have worked and no salaries have been hitting our accounts. We have families who depend on us but nobody has told us what is going on. We are inviting him for questions and he has refused to attend,” some of the angry workers indicated.
This portal couldn’t tell the reason for the absence of Mr. Ntarmah but given the history behind the venue of the meeting, it is believed the aggrieved workers might have mishandled him.
The workers, numbering over 500 have vowed to converge at the same venue again till they hear from their leader, whom they claim was elected to fight their cause and so must heed to their call.
It would be recalled the 2006 group of retrenched workers who have not been paid their severance award recently secured a garnishee order from the court preventing the railway company to touch its bank account, and this has since prevented the workers from being paid.
Chairman of the retrenched workers, John Kojo Appiah in May this year told Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson that the injunction was ordered by the Sekondi High Court after all efforts to retrieve their locked-up funds proved futile.
“The Cape Coast Appeals Court ordered the payment of our money in 2015,” he said.
“Since then, the company has refused to pay the money to us and all efforts have proven unsuccessful. Our lawyer led us and an injunction has been placed on the accounts where salaries of workers are paid from.” He indicated.
Ghana Railway currently rely only on part of its revenue from the carting of bauxite from Nsuta to Takoradi to pay the workers.
We are closely monitoring events as they unfold.