Dangote Cement workers protest against low remuneration

Workers of Dangote Cement Ghana Limited staged a demonstration  in Tema yesterday to protest against  their low salaries and poor working conditions.

Before the demonstration, the workers had boycotted the food served at the company’s canteen for one week.

Clad in red shirts and armbands, more than 500 workers who took part in the demonstration chanted and sang songs amid drumming and dancing.

Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Where is the salary structure,’’ ‘‘No structure, No work, MD,’’ ‘’Today you are late for work,’’ ‘‘Tunde must go,’’ the workers threatened to continue with the agitation until the management of the company had addressed their concerns.

The management of the company is alleged to have reacted to such actions in the past by dismissing some 17 workers because they described such agitations as illegal.

During the demonstration, the management only looked on as the workers protested in a peaceful manner.

A team of policemen deployed from the Tema Regional Police Command to the company’s premises to restore law and order had no work to do.

Some of the officers were seen engaging some of the demonstrators in hearty conversation.

Demands

Some of the workers showed their monthly payslips ranging between GH¢167 and GH¢505. 

The striking workers also demanded  full-time status as opposed to casual employment, and improvement in safety and working conditions at the factory.

The local Union Chairman, Mr Thomas Ngba, told the Daily Graphic that the company’s management had failed to implement the contents of a memorandum of understanding (MoU)  it signed with the union in 2015 which, among other things, stated clearly the development of a salary structure for the workers.

The MoU, he said, made recommendations for various allowances including  night, height and out of station allowances for factory workers and drivers, the procurement of safety gears for factory workers and loaders, cement allowance, which were all stated in the Collective Agreement (CA) of 2010, but were yet to be implemented fully.

Profitability

The Secretary of the Local Union, Mr Seth Parry, also queried the company’s management decision to procure some 150 new trailer trucks for the transportation and delivery of cement nationwide, when “management claimed its profit margins had hit a record low”.

“Who does business, makes losses and yet continue to invest heavily in logistics? Mr Parry quizzed.

Mr Parry was of the view that issues of non-profitability were only being used as an excuse to refuse the demands of the workers.

“This is supposed to be a company belonging to Africa’s richest businessman whose products are not sold on credit to its accredited sales agents and retailers, yet, workers are poorly remunerated. Must we starve to death at the expense of his quest to make more money?” Mr Parry asked.

Management of the company, however, failed to respond to the allegations made by the workers union. 

The Human Resource Manager, Ms Adwoa Asabea Owusu-Koranteng, declined to comment in the absence of the Communications Manager.