‘Intervene To Prevent Total Collapse’- Railway Workers to Government
Workers of the Ghana Railway Company Limited(GRCL) have called on the government to address challenges faced by the company to avoid an imminent collapse.
A statement released by GRCL and signed by its General Secretary, Godwill Ntarmah, indicated that the company is currently unable to purchase fuel to operate passenger trains.
“The Railway Workers Union brings to the attention of all that the GRCL is gradually grinding to a halt. The company currently cannot purchase fuel to run its manganese freight as well as the Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU), a passenger train.
“As a result, for the past few days, all the freight trains, as well as the DMUs, have been parked,” part of the release indicated.
It added that the company is saddled with an overwhelming debt burden, including the non-payment of salaries to some staff as well as SSNIT and credit union contributions.
“Aside from the inability to purchase fuel, is the overwhelming debt burden of the company including the non-payment of salaries to some staff from August and the general staff from September as well as workers welfare dues, SSNIT, Credit Union contributions,” the statement said.
The union is therefore calling on President Akufo-Addo to direct the immediate release of revenue realized from the auctioning of scrap metals and intervene to salvage the company from total collapse.
“We kindly call on the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to immediately direct the release of the revenue realized from the auctioning of the scrap metals of GRCL to purchase fuel and other operational challenges to save GRCL.
“We wish to place on record that the GRCL is a state institution, and everything possible must be done to salvage it from total collapse,” it explained.
Read the full statement below:
