The workers of La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra this morning, staged a demonstration against their Managing Director, Mrs Abena Pokua Boaitey Amoah, demanding her removal from office.
Among other concerns, the workers are protesting her refusal to implement new salary levels, which are said to take effect from January 1, 2018.
Chanting war songs and wielding placards with various inscriptions, the action of the workers stalled work at the hotel.
The aggrieved workers describe the management skills of the MD and her working relations with the workers as “very poor,” and some of the placards read, “We need this woman out,” “Teamwork is the best,” “Stop the looting,” and “Staff of La-Palm deserve better.”
La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel is a fully state owned facility managed by the Social Security and National Investment Trust (SSNIT)
Previously, SSNIT had a 70 percent shareholders’ value with an Israeli business developer holding the remaining 30 percent.
Consequently, the workers have petitioned the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) about their concerns.
In the petition, they contend that the attitude of the Managing Director is negatively affecting productivity.
“As the Managing Director of a public entity Like La Palm Royal Hotel, we believe Madam Akosua Pokua Boaitey Amoah is rendering a public service to the people of Ghana and as such, she needs to be very circumspect in her utterances, attitude and relationship with the workers whom she is dealing with.”
“However, regrettably, her relationship with the workers of the hotel on issues of labour, and her utterances and attitude generally towards the workers of the hotel are not the best to say the least, and cast a wedge between the entire workforce (junior, senior and management staff alike) and the managing Director herself. This would naturally affect productivity, which is why the once famous, profitable and highly esteemed La Palm Royal Hotel is found in its lowest state we see it today.”
In addition, the workers claim in the petition that “due processes are not followed on matters of discipline on alleged offences which sometimes result in dismissal and termination of appointments of workers,” and that there is “disregard for the Labour Laws and the Collective Agreement that govern the relationship between the workers and management.”
They also accused the MD of taking arbitral decisions in the running of the hotel, adding that “less than a year into the MD’s administration, about 20 unionized workers have become victims of her acts of arbitrariness and union busting among others.”
By Edmund Mingle/adrdaily.com
