Ghana News Agency workers call off sit-down strike

Workers of Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday called off their three-day sit-down strike with immediate effect.

The decision was taken after an emergency meeting convened by the Management, headed by Mr Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, the Supervising Chief Editor.

However, they warned that should the General Manager, Nana Appau Duah resume work before the National Media Commission (NMC) issued its verdict on his retirement, “they would advise themselves”.

Addressing the staff, Mr Boadi said the Management had a meeting with the NMC on Tuesday to discuss the strike action and other relevant issues.

He said following the meeting he decided that as the next in line in the hierarchy of the GNA Administration, he would take over the running of the Agency to avert a vacuum and discussed the issue with Nana Appau Duah, “who assured me that he will not enter the premises of the Agency to elicit any negative reaction from the workers for the time being”.

Mr Boadi said the NMC had referred the workers’ petition to its Legal and Complaints Committee, adding that he was hopeful that the NMC would arrive at a decision on the matter by the end of next week.

The workers are demanding the immediate retirement of the General Manager, who turned 60 years on March 12, 2011. They have accused him of not doing enough to improve their poor working conditions.

The Local Leadership of the Communication Workers Union and the Public Services Workers Union said their decision to resume work was in response to the appeals from numerous subscribers across the country and beyond, who relied on Agency’s news service.

They said they also acknowledged the appeal from the Ministry of Information, which depended on the Wire Service’s bulletin for the Government of Ghana’s Portal website, explaining that the Minister of Information played a critical role in calming down tempers at GNA with his advice on the need to adopt peaceful conflict resolution procedure.

On Thursday April 14, 2011, the GNA Board of Directors directed the General Manager to proceed on an indefinite leave while efforts were made to address the labour crisis but the NMC said the Board did not have the power to take such an action.

Armed with a letter from the NMC, the General Manager resumed work on Monday, April 18, 2011 and the Unions reacted by calling for an immediate strike.

Source: GNA