Akwamumanhene Odeneho Kwarfo Akoto III made a surprise visit to Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL) in response to escalating worker protests regarding alleged mismanagement within the company.
The agitation has been fueled by grievances such as salary delays, nonpayment of tier 2 contributions, and other operational challenges.
According to Starr News sources, the visit involved discussions with ATL management, followed by a meeting with the aggrieved workers to hear their concerns firsthand.
While promising to address their grievances, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III cautioned the workers against airing their complaints publicly, especially through the media.
Meanwhile, Starr News has gathered that the delayed January salaries of the workers have been paid a few days ago after the publication.
Despite receiving a government injection of GH¢17 million in 2018 to revitalize the company, ATL continues to struggle to meet its obligations, including the payment of salaries and bonuses to employees.
“January 2024 salary has not been paid, and even workers who have been with the company for over 35 years earn less than GHc800 monthly. Our salaries can be delayed for 2 -3 months, and they pay us at their own will,” a source informed Starr FM.
Workers also express dissatisfaction over unpaid bonus cash allowances from 2021 to 2023 and management’s failure to remit tier 2 contributions deducted from salaries since 2021.
“This bonus cash is a set aside percentage cash which was supposed to be added to the salary but we workers opted that it should be kept by management and payed to us in every December which is our own money we’ve worked for. Actually workers depend on such cash to pay rent and cater for their family’s Christmas needs.”
Workers also accused management of not paying tier 2 contributions since 2021 meanwhile it has been deducted from their salaries.
Additionally, uncertainty surrounds the fate of compensation allegedly provided by the previous Chinese management to departing workers, further exacerbating tensions within the company.
“We don’t know the fate of the company since this new management took over from the Chinese in 2018. It is alleged that the Chinese compensated all workers (numbering 900+) before leaving but from 2018 till now, management is still keeping the cash.”
They also questioned management for selling high quality iron machinery at the spinning and weaving department as scraps.
These include 620+ pieces of pure copper rollers(the weight ranged from 65kg to 79kg) used for printing at the real wax section, and sold hundreds of motors and cylinders costing millions of Ghana cedis.
In response to these grievances, workers staged a 5th peaceful six-hour sit-down strike on Thursday February 15, 2024 demanding positive answers from management.
“We request the government should step into this genuine matter for peace to prevail,” the workers emphasized.
The factory manager, Mr. Kenneth Asare told Starr News during the heat of the worker agitation that these allegations were “full of misinformation”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
