Akuaba Furniture sends workers packing

By Ama Achiaa Amankwah
A number of former employees of Akuaba Limited, a Ghanaian manufacturer of furniture and wood products have petitioned the National Labour Commission, (NLC) over what they called an unfair termination of their appointments. The affected workers had served the company between five to twenty years.

In the petition to NLC, the former workers argued that the Managing Director of Akuaba, Dr. Akua H.M Adusei Herbstein has decided not to honour any meeting between Akuaba, the Timber and Wood Workers Union, (TWWU) of the Ghana Trade Union Congress, (TUC) and representatives from the National Labour Department, (NLD) over the unfair termination.
The NLC has thus written to the management of Akuaba Limited to request for the company’s comments and relevant document within fourteen days.

Section 63, paragraph 4 of the Labour Act 2003, (Act 651) states that a termination may be unfair if the employer fails to prove that: (a) the reason for the termination is fair or the termination was made in accordance with a fair procedure of the act.

When such petitions are made to the NLC, it sends a letter to the employer to respond. The commission investigates the case and recommends the appropriate action. Remedies include re-employment, reinstatement or payment of compensation.

Meanwhile, Public Agenda has gathered that the National Labour Department has also forwarded the case to the NLC after it was unable to facilitate an amicable settlement. A source at the department explained that it took such an action because of the entrenched position taken by Akuaba.

The company is reported to have said that it is not comfortable with the ‘article’ that deals with redundancy and therefore would have nothing to do with it.

When Public Agenda contacted the management of Akuaba Limited, Nana Afrakomah Appiah, a secretary to the company said the company had referred the matter to its solicitors and could not comment on it. She however, questioned why the media wanted to dabble in such an issue.

The former employees further accused Akuaba Limited of arbitrarily dismissing its workers. According to them, the company on July 21st 2006 asked them to proceed on leave under the pretext that production capacity had dropped. Sadly, they were recalled by management on June 23rd 2006, and handed their dismissal letters.

One of the dismissed workers who had served for twelve years was given a mere ¢1,892,341 as his benefits, according to his dismissal letter obtained by Public Agenda.

The workers accused the management of trying to deprive them of their right to benefit from both the redundancy act and the terms stated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, (CBA) of the company.

On redundancy, Section 65 of the Labour Act 651, paragraph one states that, “When an employer contemplates the introduction of major changes in production, programme, organisation, structure or technology of an undertaking that are likely to entail terminations of appointment of workers the employer shall, (a) provide in writing to the Chief Labour Officer and the trade union concerned, not later than three months before the contemplated changes, all relevant information including the reasons for any termination, the number and categories of workers likely to be affected and the period within which any termination is to be carried out; and (b) consult the trade union concerned on measures to be taken to avert or minimize the termination as well as measures to mitigate the adverse effects of any terminations on the workers.