The General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), has urged the government to stop Tullow Ghana and Kosmos Energy’s from laying off Ghanaian workers over operational challenges.
25% of Tullow workers in Ghana to be laid off
In a statement issued on Thursday (February 27, 2020), the union alleged that the two companies only want to dismiss Ghanaian workers to help them meet “obnoxious” targets.
Their call is coming after Tullow Ghana announced that it is reducing its workforce by 25% over challenges with oil productions among others.
This will see the departure of 35% of Tullow Ghana’s senior leadership and overall 25% job losses for staff made up of both Ghanaians and expatriates.
However, the statement signed by the National Chairman of the Union, Bernard Owusu, said the causes of the company’s challenges are traceable to managerial weakness and not necessarily labour challenges.
The union, therefore, wants the government through the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Commission, to monitor the activities of these employers threatening to lay off their workforce.
“They should appeal against these harsh decisions automatically going against the fundamental rights of the workers. That is why we have maintained that all companies must create conditions for unionization of workers so that nobody can take them for granted.”
“We want the government to put in place adequate measures to facilitate dialogue between the companies and the workers in the development of the country’s human resource capacity befitting that of an oil-producing country. Such development would ensure that the local communities appreciate and cooperate fully in that direction for a successful oil and gas industry, and to guarantee that Ghana’s oil find would become a cradle for global attention,” the statement added.
Alex Mould wants Petroleum Commission to probe Tullow Ghana’s job cuts
A former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, (GNPC), Alex Mould, has called on the Petroleum Commission to look into Tullow Ghana’s decision to lay off Ghanaian workers due to Tullow Oil Plc’s massive disappointments in operations Africa and South America.The former GNPC CEO said Tullow’s challenges are mainly from its global operations, adding that the Ghana operations should not have been affected.