THE Leadership of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has petitioned the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare over the spate of accidents and explosions at steel manufacturing companies in Tema.
The petition followed the recent industrial accident at the Special Steel Company Limited on January 26 and 27, 2012, in which injured 14 workers in the process.
The incident, according to reports, occurred as a result of an explosion at a furnace at the factory’s plants.
The petition, signed by the General Secretary of the GFL, Mr Abraham Koomson, indicated that the regular occurrence of accidents at steel factories in the metropolis was as a result of deplorable working conditions.
According to the petition, in 2011, a similar incident occurred at the Western Steel and Forgings Limited, where some 17 workers suffered second degree injuries, with three deaths being recorded within the same period.
Similar incidents were recorded at the Tema Steel Works, where a crane operator was burnt to death after he had fallen into a hot molten steel meant for fabrication works.
The petition noted that whereas the Factories Inspectorate Division of the ministry had tried to instill some sanity into the operations of these factories, the uncooperative attitude and the disregard for safety rules and regulations by the company’s management had remained a major bottleneck.
The petition also pointed out how management frustrated workers persistently to prevent them from joining a trades union.
“Management’s strategy to disable the workers in their bid to join a trades union has been threats of retrenchment of employees,” it said.
That, the petition said, was in violation of trades union rights of workers and total disregard for the country’s labour regulations.
The federation has, therefore, called on the minister to institute investigations into the safety standards of the Special Steel Company as a matter of urgency .
Meanwhile, officials of the federation have also called on the minister to intervene in the undue delay in the processing of the workers union’s application for a collective bargaining certificate to empower the workers to fight for better conditions of service.
The GFL expressed the belief that the uncooperative attitude of managers of these companies, coupled with youth unemployment, had seen majority of the Ghanaian youth becoming victims of exploitation, resulting in management’s refusal to institute proper safety measures.
SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Feb 14, 2012
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