The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has criticized the decision by TV3 Network Limited to dismiss over 30 of its workers for requesting improved conditions of services.
According to the GJA’s General Secretary, Dave Agbenu, the action taken by TV3 is gravely unacceptable and worrying.
A letter from management of the station announcing the dismissal of the workers Tuesday said, “wearing red shirts on Wednesday 22nd February, 2017, tying doors of offices with red fabric, writing of graffiti on the premises threatening management and hoisting of a red flag on the campany’s transmission on Wednesday 22 February 2017 without authority from management.
“Management wishes to bring to your attention that these acts that you participated in constituted industrial action which is a form of illegal strike and was aimed at intimidating and coercing management.
“This conduct amounts to unfair labour practice, management considers your action as participating in one form of illegal strike and also amounts to gross misconduct aimed at disrupting the business of the company and bringing the name of the company into disrepute. Based on the above violations management has decided to summarily dismiss you from the service with immediate effect.”
But commenting on the matter Wednesday on Morning Starr, Mr. Agbenu said: “It is surprising and very unfortunate this is happening at TV3.”
The GJA, he said, is mobilizing to meet the leadership of the workers to be briefed on what exactly happened, leading to their dismissal.
He said dismissing the workers because they wore red attire to work in protest of better conditions of services is quite disturbing.
“Attire alone should not form the basis for which somebody will be dismissed from work. That is the information we have and we don’t think that it is strong enough position to ask people to go home,” he told Morning Starr host, Francis Abban.
The General Secretary of the Public Services Workers Union, Richard Ampabeng, said the action by the management of TV3 is illegal and regrettable.
Kwesi Danso-Acheampong, Labour lawyer and a former Deputy Chairperson of the National Labour Commission said employers have the right to terminate appointments of employees when they engage in illegal demonstration, but to sack them for wearing “red shirts” to work is inexplicable.
“It is not supported by law,” he told Abban on Morning Starr Wednesday.
Sacking discriminatory
One of the dismissed staff of the network accused management of the station of discrimination in the mass dismissal exercise that occurred Tuesday.
According to the worker, who wants to remain anonymous, some staff of the station who took part in the conditions of service protest, are still at work while other have been sent home.
He told Morning Starr host Francis Abban Wednesday that claims by their management that they embarked on an industrial action is not true.
“The HR was spotted in red as well, but he is still at post. We have been discriminated against. Some at the HR department were wearing red. TV3 has cameras everywhere, they should prove that we did make noise and destroyed things. The shirts we wore were given to us by the company,” he said.
Management disagrees
But a management member of the station Henry Nii Dortey told the Morning Starr the workers breached the terms of engagement at the station.
“There is no work place where you do not see some of these things happening. We got to work on Tuesday and we saw red flags hoisted at some vantage points on the compound. On Wednesday, most of workers wore red shirts to work and we did not understand. The notion that people have been dismissed for wearing red shirt is erroneous. Besides, hoisting red flags on our transmission mast is a very dangerous thing to do. There are rules and laws that guide every organisation”.
