Striking Kumasi Airport Security Officials Resume Work
Workers of G7 Security System, who are the providers of security at the Kumasi Airport, have resumed work after earlier laying down their tools to protest the non-payment of their 3-month salary arrears.
The decision to return to duty was arrived at after an emergency meeting with the management of the Airport and the leadership of the striking security officers.
The strike by the workers affected operations at the Airport, as construction workers on Phase Two of the airport expansion project were also denied access to the site.
Some passengers were also affected.
Kwabena Ebu, a spokesperson for the aggrieved workers said, “They have assured us that in two months’ time, they will pay us our arrears, but we disagreed. We told them we are giving them only one week, that is next week Thursday. We want all our salary arrears and other grievances that we have highlighted resolved, and they gave us an assurance, so we are waiting on them.”
Some of the aggrieved workers in an earlier interview lamented the poor conditions under which they work and urged the airport’s management to resolve those issues as well.
“We have three months arrears of our salary not paid, and we are demanding our salary. We are giving them 24 hours. For four years now, we have been working with one uniform, no raincoat, when it’s raining, we work in the rain. We control almost all locations including the Presidential lodge. We embarked on a demonstration exercise last week, and they promised us that by Wednesday they will pay us all the arrears, but we got just one month. We want the remaining salary and our SSNIT payments. They’ve not been paying our SSNIT,” one of the aggrieved workers said.
Another worker said “Each day you mark us for GHS22 but if you absent yourself for one day you deduct GHS50 from our pay and our pay is not even up to GHS700… The uniform that they gave us when they employed us is the same one we have been using for years now. They see us as nobodies. Even when you are sick, and you seek permission, it is complicated.”